Problem Not Solved

Packemin has trouble with giving kids extended time to ISS kids on exams. The problem is logistics, we are just too big. I've bitched about this in the past, things were changed but things are still not running smoothly.

The new process has the teacher bringing exams to the ISS office where the exams are placed in the mailboxes of the resource room teacher. The teacher supposedly picks the exams up, gives them to the student and then returns them to the teacher's letter box in the main office on the first floor. The exams are supposed to be in sealed envelopes with all pertinent information (names of teachers and students, periods, etc on the front.)

Now, if your head is spinning trying to figure this all out, you are not alone. There are at least six different resource teachers, plus the inclusion kids whose school base is in another part of the building. Bringing exams for both groups of kids has the teacher running in circles. Trying to get all this done before 7:00 AM makes for a bad start to the day.

Some students start the exams in resource room and then finish them in their regular class while others reverse the procedure, depending upon their schedule. A child who has resource room say sixth period and class eighth period leaves the resource room teacher and the gen ed teacher no time to exchange papers. Occasionally students have been allowed to transport their own exams in sealed envelopes but there have been too many incidents of cheating along the way with this method for my comfort. Oh you might suggest that the child just finish the exam in resource room but the teacher that was in the room period 6 might be in a gym class or an English class period 8 and not available to proctor again.

A different bandage was put on the wound, but the wound is not healing. I don't have an answer. I only see a problem and I see kids not getting what they need.

Don't Call Con Edison

If you happen to have seen the steam pouring out of my ears today, don't worry about calling Con Edison. For once, they had nothing to do with the problem. What you saw was the slow explosion of everything inside my head after my conversation with the resource room teacher.

Actually, I found out she is more than a resource room teacher. She is an inclusion teacher, grade advisor and guidance counselor. She does it all for her 7 students. Yes, all of her 7 students. I approached her to find out why my student was given the regents in January and why I wasn't informed. I think she can start a new store, EXCUSES 'R US.

Excuse 1: It was a spur of the moment decision to let him take the exam.
(Since when is a regents a spur of the moment decision?)

Excuse 2: It was his decision to take it now.
(Since when do students decide when they should take an exam? Should we also give them alcohol and cigarettes because they want to? This boy's mother does not trust him to cross the street himself and she is trusting him to make a decision about his education.)

Excuse 3: It was a safety net for him.
(Even walking a tightrope requires training and a safety net is necessary there.)

Excuse 4: He already took the course three times so there was no reason to think he would fail.
(Duh, he failed because he did not know the work. Besides, the course this is only the second year the course is offered so he could not have taken it three times.)

Excuse 5: He got an 80 in your class so I assumed he was doing well.
(Never once did she come to ask me how he was doing in my class. I learned, from another teacher, that he does not handle failure well, so I have been sitting with him, while he does the exams, to ensure a passing grade. His grade was partially because of his wonderful class participation and homework.)

Excuse 6: I don't really know much about regents exams. Most of my students take RCTs.
(It's your job to know about regents exams.)

Excuse 7: I have so much to do, I can't chase after every little thing.
(Those 7 kids sure fill up your day.)

Excuse 8: I didn't think he needed to go to tutoring.
(I blasted her for not encouraging him to come to the tutoring sessions run during the week. He only needed a few more points to pass and those meetings might have done the trick. He is also receptive to extra help and has a mother who would have made sure he made it to school for the extra help, had she known about it.)

I don't know what I expected her to say when I went to talk to her, except maybe "sorry", or "I made a mistake and it won't happen again." Instead I heard excuse after excuse after excuse. The only thing she worried about was the stink I was going to make about it and how this would impact on her.

Being an inclusion teacher can't be easy. These kids have special needs and dealing with them can be trying. I would hope anyone who takes on this assignment does it with the best interests of the students at heart. This boy is the second inclusion student I've taught. She reminded me of one I had a few years ago and I reminded her that she did nothing to help then either. She never came to the class to see what was going on. All she did was send a para by once every few weeks to make sure things were going well. I still have not been told the difference between the ISS program she runs and the one that is officially part of Packemin. I don't get how anyone can look themselves in the mirror and do the sort of job this woman is doing, or should I say, not doing.

I know I am getting myself in deep doo doo with her. I already went to Mr. AP and the principal of Packemin about the situation. I hate doing this to a fellow teacher but I hate seeing my students abused even more. These kids have no one to stand up for them and as long as I am here, I will keep on fighting. I somehow think this boy will be the last one programmed for mainstream with me. There is nothing I can do about that. But, hopefully, I laid a foundation so future students will have an easier time.

There Is No Excuse For This

The course ends in June but the resource room teacher somehow arranged for Junior to take the regents in January. Maybe she thought that because he is repeating the course, he would be able to pass the exam this time.

Did she do any prep work with him?

Did she make sure he knew tutoring was available, call his mother to let her know of the extra help?

Did she tell his classroom teacher her plan?

Did she provide the proper reader he was entitled to?

If you answered NO to the above questions, you must know my poor little inclusion boy who once again is going to be faced with a failing grade.

The saddest part is I could have gotten him to pass. He got a 58 this time, so he was almost there. I could have helped him on his lunch periods. (He is very receptive to extra help.) I could even have been his reader on the exam.

If I am correct, there are less than 10 kids in her charge. How can she let this happen?

Not Doing The Job

While I don't understand the fear of having this post being public, I moved it here to respect the wishes of the person involved. Change cannot occur without things like this being made public.

Still Flawed

There is a major problem at Packemin HS when it comes to giving kids extended time on exams. Because we are so large, it is not easy to get the exams to the resource room teacher. A problem that has existed for years is that our weakest kids start an exam early in the day and have to wait until much later to finish it. Sometimes, things get messed up and they have to wait days to finish. This method does not foster success.

Another problem, a problem that has also existed for years is how to get the paper from the classroom to the resource room. Years ago, we used to put the paper in a sealed envelope and let the student transport the exam himself. This worked well until one student decided that instead of going to resource with the exam, he would go to his friend and have the friend do the exam for him. The kid got caught and should have been suspended but his very pretty mom came to school and sweet talked the horny old AP of security into giving him another chance. When the teacher complained, the AP security accused the teacher of causing the problem by handing the child the exam in the first place. Needless to say, students were no longer handed exams (at least this teacher stopped) and another method was put into place.

Packemin has grown since this incident and once again the problem of transporting exams resurfaced. Ms. I, who I believe also had a test stolen this way, has re-instituted the policy of letting students carry their own exams. Well, guess what? The policy still does not work.

A young man came into my class with his exam in a sealed envelope, teachers signature across the back, as it is supposed to be. He sat down in the back and did not hand me the paper as he is supposed to do. I was busy handing out papers to the rest of the class, trying to settle down my rowdy bunch, when I noticed his folded paper being passed to the boy in front of him. I took away both papers, called both parents and notified my AP.

I have no problem giving kids extended time when they are entitled to it. I even give extended time to kids who are not entitled to it but I have a problem with the way extended time is administered. I don't have the answer but I am not an AP earning $135,000 a year. Hopefully a good solution can be arrived at soon.

He's Not An Einstein, But...

Why am I telling the resource room teacher the kid is not lazy or stupid, he just needs help focusing?

Why isn't s/he advocating for him?

Resource Room and the Twenty First Century

Until I started teaching at Packemin HS, I had no clue as to what a resource room was, what kind of students were involved in it and what went on in one.

I began my teaching career in the special education department of Packemin HS. In my previous school, I taught some very low functioning students and I always had special ed kids mainstreamed for my classes. (I was good with them and they liked me.) When I had the opportunity to teach these kids full time, I jumped at the chance.

Mrs. V was one of two resource room teachers at that time. Her room was situated in the middle of the special education floor and we chatted quite a bit. She tried to convince me to go teach main stream kids because her kids needed kind, caring teachers. At that time, I just wasn't interested.

Over the years I got to see first hand what Mrs. V and the other resource room teachers did with their students. I saw how they tracked down main stream teachers and got extra work for their students. They collected exams so their students could have the extra time they were entitled to. They worked with the kids on the basic skills they needed. They counseled, admonished and consoled when necessary. They advocated for these children without a voice when there was no one else to do so.

Now I would like to fast forward to resource room in the twenty first century. Things are different, very different. Back when I met Mrs. V, every resource teacher had five resource room classes. It was easy to find the teacher, talk to the teacher and give the teacher any materials they needed. Now, resource room is covered by many different teachers, some teaching one or two classes in this area, one in the gym and maybe another as an inclusion teacher in a history or English class. There is no continuity. It is hard for the student to get the extended time needed because no one is in one place long enough to provide it. Finding the teacher to deliver a test to is another disaster area. The teachers themselves are spread so thin they cannot do for the students what was done years ago.

In spite of all this, the students that have this resource room are far more fortunate than the ones that have resource as a "push in" for English or History. Yes, there is an extra teacher to give help in one of these subjects but the students are not getting any help in any other subjects. No one is helping them meet standards in math or reading. It is hard to find the time and space to give them extended time. The resource teacher may even go days without having a real conversation with the student.

Mrs. V taught me that the students in resource room were for the most part bright kids with some disabilities. They were kids that just needed that "little extra " and then they would be able to succeed. Under the Bloomberg-Klein era, the Mrs. Vs of the world can no longer do this job. Resource room is not the same and in some cases, it is just a room, minus the resource.

It is time for the education mayor to start doing something about education. And, resource room is a good thing for him to fix. After all, he is the one that broke it.

Real Staff Development Needed

(Similar posting on Packemin HS--If you read that, skip this. I was just a little more specific over there.)

It is getting harder and harder to write on this blog knowing it is being read by so many people and by people in authority. I don't want to write anything that will incriminate or reflect on anyone. Even psuedonyms can be figured out. I'm going to try not to mention things that make me sound like I am blowing my own horn. And, mostly, I am not going to act like a know it all and give advice to people who don't need or want my advice. All of this is the reason the original posting was on Packemin. Schoolgal thought the ideas in that post ought to be shared. I hope I made this one generic enough without pushing any agenda. That is the reason I am waiting until staff development day starts to post this.

Special education students are now being required to take the same courses their mainstream cohorts are taking. The special education teachers lack the training and education needed to teach these subjects. Their training has predominantly been in teaching to the needs of kids with special problems. This is not fair to the children or the teachers.

Resource room teachers need help so they can help their students. No one can teach every single subject and it is not fair to ask these hard working individuals to try. They need help.

One resource room teacher offered to buy me a beer and I could teach him the math while we sipped away. As much as I love him (and beer), I hate to mix the two. I hate to taint my bar experience with work.

Let's Push Out The Push Ins

I haven't published on the new blog yet. I'm still going to write here. If I haven't responded to you yet, I might have missed the post or you didn't include your e-mail. Give me 48 hours and then just write again. The responses have been overwhelming. I had no idea so many people read this blog. That one will just be saved for the down and dirty stuff.

I don't care who reads this post. Rush-in teachers are being used all over the city and our children are being hurt. The policy has to be advertised and stopped.

To save something, I'm not sure what, except for space, many resource room kids only see their resource room teacher in their history or English class. These teachers are "push ins". Their mission, whether they chose to accept it or not, was to work with these students in the mainstream environment. Now they might be doing better in this history or English class but they are not being serviced in math or reading or anything else that matters.

Personally, I can't imagine this type of system working in my classroom. I don't think I would like an extra voice talking while I am talking (the kids do enough of that without assistance.) If the students spent the period working individually, or in groups, an extra body in the room would be great. My feeling is that they come to school to be taught. I am paid "big bucks" to teach. I want to earn my check. Having them work individually all period is not something I am being paid to do.