My job description says I'm a teacher of Biology/Marine Science, but I much prefer teaching Biology. Last year my colleague and I worked out a cooperative plan - she prefers to teach Marine Science, and feels less comfortable teaching Biology. So she agreed to teach all the Marine Science in all 3 grade levels (10-12), and I would reciprocate by teaching the Biology curriculum to those same students. Perfect!! Now she's moved on to greener fields!! So I'm the only Marine Science teacher and must also teach Biology to one of the Marine Science classes + Biology to another non-Marine Science class.
Sucks!!!! Not really!!! Since the Marine Science is a Magnet Program, I'm based in the Marine Science lab all the time - even for the 2 Biology classes!!! Most teachers have to 'float' at some time!! Not only that but this magnet program can have a maximum of only 24 students - so my 3 classes have 18, 19, and 24 students respectively, and 32 for the two Biology classes. Compare this with most of the other Science classes which have 36-40 students!!! And this is for every Science class!!! This school has too many students!!! And they're so big!!! Bigger than the teachers!!! My colleagues are really stressed!!!
Today I walked upstairs to find an item in the Biology lab I had last year. There was a group of noisy unruly students outside and a larger number of similar students inside!! Apparently the teacher was absent and a student prefect had been sent to supervise them!!! The poor girl could not manage!!! It felt like there were about 50 students (14 year olds) in the group!!! No exaggeration!!! She finally went to complain to the administrators who advised her to bring the entire group down to them. The only thing I could do was to help her to herd them there, before returning to my own small class downstairs!!!!
The Lord does work in mysterious ways!!! So I'm isolated downstairs in the Marine Science lab. So I have to find the resources by myself to instruct these students - but there is so much on the Internet and so many innovative ways to present it!! The students are enjoying the subject!!! They even prefer to remain in the lab with me during lunch break, rather than going outside with the rest of the noisy student body!!! Thanks HFU!!! So we have to go out for field activities - we enjoy this!! Since the classes are small, and behavioral concerns are virtually non-existent, I can do HFU work while they are working quietly on their own assignments, or when I have a non-teaching period, but still based in the lab!!!! Thank you Lord!!! How did you know just what I would need!!! Doing a rigorous online program while trying to teach 6 large classes for 3 periods/week each would have been a killer!!! And my first impulse was to say no when I was asked to take the Marine Science classes this academic year!!!!!
Monday, 22 October 2012
Friday, 12 October 2012
Education for all ...or not?
Okay I accept the mandate that education should be for all students. So I teach in a senior high school with a very large student population (approximately 1500 students in grades 10-12), and this year has been particularly challenging so far. The classes are very large since we are experiencing a shortage of teachers, and we are already really stressed. But nevertheless education is for all!! Remember this!!
So this year I notice we have a student in a wheelchair. Okay. So the entrance to the school does have a ramp - good. But the school is constructed on 2 levels, with no elevators - only stairs! And of the classrooms and restrooms downstairs, only a few have ramps! So where do administrators base this child? You guessed it - in a classroom without a ramp!! And some subject areas are situated on the upper level - e.g. Science, Math, Business Studies, Art. So how is this child supposed to do these subjects? And the child needs to have bars in the bathroom to be able to swing herself into/out of her chair. There are no bars!
Additionally the child apparently cannot move her wheelchair on her own - she does not have the hand strength to do so. So she has to rely on the good graces of other students to push her around and to lever her into and out of these classrooms without ramps!!!! Seems to me that this child needs to have a dedicated helper to be with her as she pursues her education????? What if the other students don't care enough to push her from class to class or to and from the bathroom????? But the mother only drives up to the entrance of the school, pushes her into the foyer and drives off!!!!! I've seen her do it!!!! What does she expect from the school?????? What kind of education can we really offer this student????
So this year I notice we have a student in a wheelchair. Okay. So the entrance to the school does have a ramp - good. But the school is constructed on 2 levels, with no elevators - only stairs! And of the classrooms and restrooms downstairs, only a few have ramps! So where do administrators base this child? You guessed it - in a classroom without a ramp!! And some subject areas are situated on the upper level - e.g. Science, Math, Business Studies, Art. So how is this child supposed to do these subjects? And the child needs to have bars in the bathroom to be able to swing herself into/out of her chair. There are no bars!
Additionally the child apparently cannot move her wheelchair on her own - she does not have the hand strength to do so. So she has to rely on the good graces of other students to push her around and to lever her into and out of these classrooms without ramps!!!! Seems to me that this child needs to have a dedicated helper to be with her as she pursues her education????? What if the other students don't care enough to push her from class to class or to and from the bathroom????? But the mother only drives up to the entrance of the school, pushes her into the foyer and drives off!!!!! I've seen her do it!!!! What does she expect from the school?????? What kind of education can we really offer this student????
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)