Tis the Season

For going back to school that is. I spent the summer not working. You're probably thinking, "You're a teacher. You never work in summer." Let me explain.

Have a seat and listen while I tell you a tale of a teacher whose plans go awry.

I did not work summer school. I did not work a side job. I did not complete a degree or other furthering of my education coursework. I took the summer off completely for the first time in my 15 years as an educator. Know what? It felt good.

Wait! You mean you don't sit around and sip margaritas?

I had planned on exploring freelance writing opportunities and squirreling away funds for my new car since I blew that nest egg on cervical fusion surgery last fall. However, I didn't do that. Not because I did not want to, but because instead of needing to work, we've finally gotten to a point where my working over summer isn't essential. After 15 years as a teacher, we finally had enough that I didn't need to work to make ends meet over summer. 15 years.

That's right. 15 years it took. No wonder burn out rates in education are so high.

Another factor in my decision was that instead of feeling like I had to establish a fallback plan for when I left teaching, I was actually content at the end of last year. I had a year where I was allowed to actually put to use my experience, my creativity, and my knowledge of the subject. Because I was content, I did not feel as though I had to stick to my Plan of Escape that I formulated a few years ago when my district's policy makers were essentially stripping my autonomy as an educator. I quit my side gigs last spring and opted not to push myself to earn, earn, earn!

 

That's right Miss Ives. Enough of that bullshit.

Instead, I read. I read a lot. I read classics, I read modern fantasy, and I read scholarly journals. I spent a lot of time filling up my empty cistern of self. I considered several points of view on education reform and policy. I evaluated how last year went for my students and what I could do to be better for them this year. I developed new novel units using strategies I've gathered from the last few years of teaching. I purchased materials that my students would need to organize their work in class to best implement class procedures. I wasn't altogether ready to return mind you, but when the first day back came, I was more relaxed and enthusiastic than I had been in several years.

Most excellent. Party on, Wayne.

That bliss lasted for about a day. Currently, I am on edge because I am waiting for someone to tell me I have to teach this boxed, scripted literacy program instead of the board approved English curriculum. You see, I teach special education. My students have reading and writing disabilities as well as some mental health and cognitive or behavioral challenges. Apparently, if you teach special education English at the high school, you can be told to teach a boxed, scripted literacy program instead. With no notice. Without input.

For fuck's sake! Not again you bastards!

Apparently there was a shift last spring. The student services folks and literacy coaches decided that not only would they implement this program at middle school level, it should also be taught by the English teachers in the high school special education classes. While the middle school teachers were told last spring, we high school folk weren't. We weren't included in the discussion or the selection. In fact, my counterpart at my previous school (I was involuntarily transferred in spring 2015 after 11 years) was informed via email by her building admin that she was required to attend training on one of two days available. Never mind the fact that this is the third intervention program in six years. I was around for the first two, but a third? Somehow this seems to fly in the face of best practice. There are now loads of materials and technology that will gather dust in a cupboard while funds that must have been conjured magically will now be spent on a new program that six years ago was too expensive to be considered for our district. "Have no fear!" she was told. "We've got the funds. We can sustain it." Never mind the fact that Y admin says X department is paying for it while X department says Y admin is paying for it. It's an ongoing struggle in special education to determine whether special education/student services will be footing the bill or whether the building/general education department will be footing the bill. We're supposed to trust that it's all going to be ok when they can't even state who is going to pay for it.

Skeptical chihuahua wants and explanation.

Now my colleague had my utmost sympathy because once again in her time at this school they shifted gears a week before school starts and without her input. However, no one had included me in any conversation thus far, and I had not received an email like she did. I had no reason to think that I too would be included in this restructuring. While she teaches at a full title school with a different English and literacy class set up, my school had not gone that route. I was told to teach the regular ed curriculum with modified materials, which I did. I also collected data to support my effectiveness that showed the students were making gains in reading and writing while still moving through the district curriculum.

I do good work and I have evidence to prove it. So there!

Then on the teacher prep day before kids arrived, a literacy teacher who I had worked with closely asked me if I was teaching the new boxed, scripted literacy program. I replied that to my knowledge it was only the other school. She mentioned that she was told the day before at a literacy meeting that it was both high schools. This chilled me. Students came to their first day of the new year in less than 24 hours and I am hearing rumor-mill second-hand information from someone who is not my immediate supervisor? Mmmmm. Something is rotten in the state of special ed.

Explain it if you can.

Then, I return to my room to continue setting things up for the start of the year and receive a phone call from the administrator of title services including literacy asking me what materials I need for the new program. I tell her that to my knowledge I don't need any as I am not teaching it. She's confused by this of course and let's me know that one of my building admin is ordering materials for someone in the building, surely it must be me since I am teaching special education English. I assure her that no one has told me I am to teach that program, but that perhaps the new academic literacy class that has just been assembled is the right class. After we hang up, I check with my department head who assures me that no, I am not teaching the boxed, scripted literacy program.

Whew! Goat was worried there for a minute.

The next day though, the two literacy coaches for the district show up in my room to invite me to a training for the boxed, scripted literacy program. WTF, mate? I am about ready to scream at this point, but I calmly tell them the same thing I told their admin the day before. They start stammering and shuffling through papers, but I stick to my story that they probably want the literacy teacher, not me. They leave--confused and uncertain, but they leave. I call my department head again. She is aghast and now clearly worried that something changed and no one told us. She tells me she'll look into it.

Don't make me release my monkeys!

I didn't hear anything before I left on Friday. I am hoping that when I return tomorrow, there is not an email or phone message telling me I must do this boxed, scripted literacy program. You see, my students do have learning challenges. From having used two different boxed, scripted literacy programs, I learned some interesting and useful strategies that I use currently. I also learned from looking at the data, that I am effective at increasing student achievement on the district's chosen data collection method without the expensive programs. The data from the lessons I designed actually looked better than the data for the boxed, scripted literacy programs.

Moose knows what to do. Moose has it handled.

Yet, here I sit worrying that the rug will be ripped out from under me again. The two big programs and one minor program that I had to teach previously, disrespect highly qualified teachers. By forcing this program on my students and on me, the administration is saying quite clearly that my voice and expertise do not matter. I wasn't given a voice in the decision, which tells me that the ones who did think they know better than me what needs to happen. No one told me last spring or before school started, which tells me that someone not only totally dropped the ball, but also thinks so little of me as a teacher that they think I am incapable of doing my job. Worse yet, they think that just because my students have IEPs they are incapable of accessing the district curriculum. While I do have students with very low reading ability according to the district measures, those students make gains with the way I teach. I also have students with very high reading and writing who could be successful in general education classrooms if not for their brain injuries or their anxiety or their inability to meet homework expectations. They are all more capable than any of the boxed, scripted literacy programs I've used give them credit for.

He's smiling because one of my students made a connection.

One aspect of my job I believe in earnestly is the concept of do no harm. This stems from my spiritual beliefs, but it also resonates deeply with my goal as an educator. Three different (four really for me if this goes through) boxed, scripted literacy programs in six years? That seems harmful. It shows a lack of forethought on the part of the district. It shows a lack of commitment on the part of the district. It shows discompassionate policy based solely on reading achievement measures rather than on individual needs. It shows a wastefulness that is abhorrent in an age where schools struggle to commmunicate a need of adequate funding in communities that are financially strapped and suspicious of education budgets. It shows utter disrespect for a staff who take their jobs seriously. I only hope that tomorrow, my fears are not realized.

Please?