Teaching with Tim

It’s second period, and the RSP teacher is working with my DRWC kids (the ones who are way behind in reading and writing and therefore subject to the District’s mediocre scripted program of choice, Language!).  The RSP teacher is going around checking on the students’ work, and as he passes me he says, “What’s going on here?  All these kids have done their work… are you paying them or something?”  That compliment would have been good enough for me in and of itself, but the icing on the cake was Daniel Lopez’s contribution upon overhearing: “It’s because we’re smart.”  What made that so meaningful to me was that it is exactly what I have been trying to pound into this group’s heads for months.  It is clear that they are all bright kids, it’s just that their educations got a stick in the spokes at some point between kindergarten and eighth grade.  So when Daniel said that his own reason for trying hard in my class was that he believed himself to be intelligent and capable, it meant a lot to me.  The RSP teacher also commented on Manuel’s improvement.  Manuel has nearly been suspended multiple times, but in my class he as been doing much better; he was star student last week and got one of the highest scores in the class on the summative assessment.  Knowing that I am having some kind of positive impact on at least a few kids helps make up for my still overwhelming feelings of incompetence as a teacher.  But rather than wallow in all of that right now, I think I’ll just let this sunburst warm me up for a while, allowing myself to hope that the positive results I’ve seen recently are a sign of good things to come.  Still, with almost half of my fourth period students failing my class, low periodic assessment scores, and not one kid showing up for the free after school tutoring sessions I offer, I know that I’ve got a long ways to go when it comes to motivating kids to achieve.  But the little bright spots keep pushing me forward.  For example, the thought-provoking question that Bryant asked me before today’s class:

“Hey Mister, if a dog and a cat… you know… well, if they did, would the babies be dogs or cats or what?”   

Star Students enjoy pizza and pop in my room last Friday… thanks to Uncle John for the funds and to my brother, Andrew, for the ancient poloroid camera with which the picture was taken!