Like Trying to Heal a Burn Victim by Drowning Them

All I can say is: Amen!  

97% of my high school students were classified as English Language Learners when they entered the school system, whether that was in Kindergarten, 1st grade, or when they first came to this country as late as 9th grade.  Many of them still have not been re-designated as Fluent English Proficient.  Every day I am witness to the results of the misfit education they have received so far.

But do you know the worst part?   I'm not giving them any better than the insufficient education they've received so far.  At my school, students are enrolled in an Independent Study program.  Quite frankly, I don't understand it.

I don't understand how students who are multiple years behind are expected to magically catch up in a program where they work on their own.

I don't understand how students who have failed in the traditional school setting are expected to succeed in a setting with zero accountability.

I don't understand how students are expected to learn math from a textbook and a packet of paper.

I don't understand how students are expected to pass final exams when they were never taught any of the course's content by a highly qualified educator.

I don't understand how students are expected to develop socially in a program where there is little interaction among peers.

I don't understand how students are expected to dramatically change their course based solely on intrinsic motivation that they haven't shown any proof of in the past.

I don't understand how an independent study program works for 99.9% of high school students.  I don't understand.

I don't understand why we are trying to heal burn victims by drowning them.



This is my cry out to you, readers.  If you have experienced some sort of success in an independent study program, whether it was as a teacher, parent, student, family member, friend, or community member, I need to know about it.  I need to know how this works, and I need to know that good has come of this type of program, because so far, I have no faith in it.  I feel just as helpless as Dylan Garity's sister, watching my students become more and more discouraged and frustrated with this school system that has only continued to fail them.

Change

“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” -Ignacio Estrada

I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was 4 years old. I was one of those girls who “played school” with her stuffed animals, dolls, siblings, friends, whoever was willing, really!  I absolutely loved everything about school, and was enthralled with the idea of having my own classroom full of students.  My yearning to teach only grew stronger over the course of my K-12 years, and I went off to my 4-year university determined that I was taking the right path.

I didn’t realize why I loved school so much or how this would affect my future teaching career until the first day of my first college English course.  After the professor reviewed the syllabus, including the many topics and types of papers we would write that semester, a student who grew up in the area raised her hand and asked, “What if we’ve never written a five-paragraph essay before?”  Slowly but surely, other students in the room started voicing their agreement and confirmation that they had never covered that in high school.  I was in absolute shock.  I vividly remember a specific five-paragraph essay I wrote in 5th grade.  Maybe I had even written one in 4th, it was too long ago to tell.  So how was it possible that these college freshman had never written one?

It was possible because I was a privileged student in this country’s education system, and they were not. I had outstanding teachers, and they did not.  I always had the materials and resources I needed, and they did not. I attended schools with beautiful classrooms and facilities, and they did not.  I was constantly being prepared for what I would experience in college, and they were not.  Why was this the case?  Because I grew up in the suburbs, and they did not.  Because I was from a middle class family, and they were not. And because I was white, and they were not.  The sad truth is that, in this country’s current education system, a child’s ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and zip code greatly affect the quality of the education they receive.  Frankly, this isn’t fair.

I currently work at a charter high school where the perception is that students are receiving an excellent personalized education.  What I have experienced so far is that this is the furthest thing from the truth.  It is yet another example of disadvantaged, at-risk kids receiving an inferior education than their more privileged peers.  Needless to say, I plan to change this.  For obvious reasons, I will not be disclosing my name, my school’s name, or even the city we are in.  I am starting this blog to share my experiences, discoveries, ideas, triumphs, and failures and to hear interested readers’ opinions, feedback, and advice.  Collaboration is a beautiful thing, and I welcome your contributions.  Please stay tuned!