This week in Creative Writing, we’re discussing “The Good Life,” what it means to us, to others, and in pop culture. After seeing a “circle discussion” at a school I interviewed at in Boston (more on that later), I was dying to try it out. We read a variety of song quotations that talk about the idea of living the good life (you can see them here in my  “Good Life” Packet), and then we tried out the circle discussion. We used my Appletters game as the “speaking object” – if you had the Appletters, you could speak and be heard, if you didn’t, you had to wait.

Appletters - or, a speaking object!

The Appletters game went around three times, and the kids were SO respectful of the expectations that I set and of each other that I was really floored and proud. Everyone got two cookies and munched on them while we discussed.

The first time the Appletters went around, we each said which (if any) quotation we liked best, and why.

Good Life Quotes

Yes, one student (thanks JH) said he liked Kanye’s best, because it talked about “keep it comin’ with the bottles,” but another student said she didn’t like any of them because none of them mentioned feeling carefree.

The second time around, I started off by saying that I thought American culture projected ‘the good life’ as something only young people can live, as something reserved for the youth -and I pointed out the Weezer song as an example.
As the Appletters went around, some students commented on what I’d said – one asked if other people thought that the good life really WAS reserved for young people only, one student said she thought life got better as you got older, because you gained more rights and privileges and means. A few students mentioned money, and one suggested that people who grow up rich should have to spend a day in their lives, and that they should get to spend a day in the life of someone privileged, so that each group would understand his/her life better.

For the final turn, I asked everyone to say what they thought the good life is NOT, and I started by saying that I didn’t think the good life could be had by being alone. This was definitely the best round. One student said that the good life was not doing and dealing drugs your whole life. Another said he didn’t think you could live the good life if you couldn’t be yourself and express who you really are. A third said you couldn’t live the good life if you were afraid.

And then we broke out into independent writing. We had a chart to fill out, and a personal definition to complete. I meant to write with them, but I was totally mesmerized by their focus and thoughtfulness, so I circulated around the room just watching. It was seriously magical.

Independent Writing

And now, here I am, at the end of the school day, surrounded by paperwork (I still haven’t finished grading their plays from last week!) and still reveling in that lovely class. It’s not often that I feel like a fabulous teacher, or like my classroom is a safe, trusting, happy place of sharing. But today it was, and that is a victory.

<3, and excitement for the last 15 days of the school year!

Miss SBT

Scott McLeod on May 24, 2011, 12:36 PM

A school superintendent in Michigan has written a public letter to the editor asking Governor Rick Snyder if his school can become a prison instead. The full text is below. What do you think?

—- Dear Governor Snyder, In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth and preparing them to take on the issues that society has created. One solution I believe we must do is take a look at our corrections system in Michigan. We rank nationally at the top in the number of people we incarcerate. We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union. Now, I like to be at the top of lists, but this is one ranking that I don’t believe Michigan wants to be on top of. Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab. They can earn a degree. A roof over their heads. Clothing. Everything we just listed we DO NOT provide to our school children. This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison. The State of Michigan spends annually somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 per prisoner, yet we are struggling to provide schools with $7,000 per student. I guess we need to treat our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding. Please give my students three meals a day. Please give my children access to free health care. Please provide my school district Internet access and computers. Please put books in my library. Please give my students a weight room so we can be big and strong. We provide all of these things to prisoners because they have constitutional rights. What about the rights of youth, our future?! Please provide for my students in my school district the same way we provide for a prisoner. It’s the least we can do to prepare our students for the future…by giving our schools the resources necessary to keep our students OUT of prison.

Respectfully submitted, Nathan Bootz, Superintendent, Ithaca Public Schools

taken from: http://bigthink.com/ideas/38573

<3 SBT

“I need to see that lady.”

“Which lady?”

“The lady who be talking to me about college.”

“Is she your teacher?”

“No, she just talks to me about college and my behavior and stuff.”

“Me. You mean me.”

“No, this lady be real little, and she got a star tattoo on her foot.”

“Yes. That’s me.”

“Oh . . . Miss, I need to see you!”

I’m so thrilled that this is a) how he would describe me, b) how he remembers me, and c) that he DOESN’T KNOW MY NAME. Or who I am, for that matter, which is his IEP teacher. Oh well. We went on to have a lovely conversation about who I am, what my name is, and which culinary schools he’s going to apply for.

Off to Italy for a week tomorrow night with JJK! Happy spring

-SBT

- one of my favorite students

My school is no exception, and we had a very violent week last week. When there’s blood, it’s always seems worse, even if it really wasn’t.

So, I was actually excited to see the new series being run by the Philadelphia Inquirer, on school violence. It brings a lot of serious issues to light, and I think does a good job of treating the issue fairly and showing a variety of perspectives.

If you read only one installment, read this one: Young and Violent. It focuses on the violence in Philly’s elementary schools. The worst part about reading it is how totally un-shocked I am by it all.

When will we realize that we can’t “fix” our schools because they aren’t the problem? The problem is the rampant poverty and inequity in this city and all over the country, and the problems that those lead to: drugs, violence, hunger, death, and grief and families stretched too thin.

Anyway, hopefully the world won’t be this way.

Good night,

<3 SBT

Asked, by one female 10th grader:

“Wait, what’s the difference between a dining room and a living room again?”

This is not, by the way, to say ‘wow, what an idiot, how does she not know what a dining room is?’ but rather, to remind myself – and by extensions, you – that not everyone has living rooms and dining rooms. Not everyone has ever been inside either type of room, and some of these everyones live less than a mile from people who would be flabbergasted by that fact.

Happy Hump-Day

<3 SBT

But there’s one place I can’t get used to seeing tattoos- on people’s eyelids. It makes me cringe, no matter what. Wouldn’t the needle go into your eye?! Apparently not.

Fabulous aka cringe-worthy eyelid tats I’ve seen so far – both on students, and just out and about in Philly:

[Chop] [Shop]

[2]      [8]       —> this student lived on 28th st

[never]  [tell]

[M]    O   [B]   —-> the “O” was on the bridge of the nose

[pain] [suffering]

EEKS it makes me cringe just writing about it.

Brave souls.

<3 SBT

So!

(Thing One) My students stole my iPhone yesterday. Specifically, a student in my 6th period class who lives in South Philly stole my iPhone. I know because the phone went missing during 6th period, and I used the GPS tracking device and watched it travel down the trolley line, across town to Broad street, down the Broad St. line and then into a neighborhood before the smart little thief turned the phone off and so I lost track of it. I think it may be gone for good. It hasn’t turned back on yet, which makes me think whoever took it has either a) wised up to the tracking device or b) already had it jailbroken and wiped.

I was REALLY angry yesterday, and went out and blew off some steam with teacher friends at dinner, but I think I have a solid take-away on the matter: No punishment or consequence that I could possibly dream up will ever be worse than what karma has in store for the culprit. Not just karma, but life in Philadelphia. The possible suspects all have low reading and math levels, and high levels of disrespect, attitude, poverty, and emotional problems. As much as I don’t relish these facts . . . they are still facts, and they help me to not be angry at my students.

(Thing Two) A student SERIOUSLY offered to sell food stamps to one of my co-workers yesterday, at half-price.

(Thing Three) Thing three is amazing. Thing three is the reason I had a good day today, despite the betrayal of personal property theft. Thing three is . . . *drumroll* . . . PEER EDITING!! Anyone who teaches high schoolers or middle schoolers in a city will tell you that they hate working together. They kvetch, and they moan, and they absolutely refuse to move to sit with their partners, and then IF you find a way to get them into groups, they sit silently and complete work without collaborating.

But today was magical!! It was the first time we tried peer editing in pairs – switching papers, and then giving compliments, constructive criticisms, and then actual corrections. I made it very structured, with timed sections for each type of conversation, and I modeled and provided examples of each beforehand. There were NO complaints about the partners, which is a miracle in and of itself. They were a little slow to get started, but once I said “I should hear lots of voices right now,” they got into it!! I heard a student, AY, say to another student, ST,

“Yeah, maybe you should add more details to this part about the corner store. Like what it look like. Ain’t that what [Miss SBT] always says to add?”

Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you, my heart was singing.

And I still am reserving a small smackerel of hope for my poor little phone.

<3 SBT

And here I thought that once I got them in to college, they were home free . . .

This article makes me worry, even for my students who will receive their diploma.

Just a little burst of sunshine on this gray Saturday morning spent in grad school. . . .

<3 Miss SBT

Suspension List for Thursday, February 24, 2011

Left the Building without permission . . .

1. AA, two days

2. AM, two days

3. DW, two days

Cutting class, and disrespectful . . .

4. SL, one day

5. LL, one day

6. SO, one day

7. AC, one day

8. LC, one day

9. JW, one day

10. DR, two days

Cutting . . .

11. KL

12. TP (this is backwards . . . the student’s initials are actually PT. good job administrators…)

13. KW

Electronics

14. AW, one day

15. MJ, one day

16. SE, one day

17. KJ, one day

18. NF, TWO days

19. CB, one day

20. ZL, one day

21. FH, one day

Other offenses…

22. AT, fighting, TWO days

23. TJ, offensive to a teacher, TWO days

24. DS, disruptive/threw a desk, TWO days

25. JC, rude to staff, one day

26. RF, rude to staff, one day

27. KD, rude to staff, TWO days

This is, pretty much verbatim, the email that was sent out to the staff members schoolwide. This list of suspensions, while most of them are deserved, sheds just a bit of light on a larger problem that exists not only at my school, but at almost every school in the Philadelphia School District – probably in schools all over the country! What problem? Unenforceable, inconsistent consequences.

What happened to you when you were bad in high school? Detention . . . loss of privileges . . . parent meeting maybe, and in general just shame and embarrassment, right? MAYBE a suspension, for something really bad.  Not to mention – when you acted up, it affected your grade!

But these traditional consequences don’t work, either because they’re not an option, or because they have no effect. They’re too late. Why not an option? At an alternative school, for example, you pretty much have no privileges, so there are none to take away. You can’t have a parent meeting when the student a) lives with his brother because he hates his parents or b) the parents work during normal meeting hours c) the parent is just as tired and fed-up with the student as you are, and tells you that he/she has already tried everything, or d) my least favorite, the parent tells you not to waste your time on their kid. Detention becomes problematic for the same reason – you can only hold a student with parental permission, and sometimes that can be downright difficult to obtain. IN addition, who’s going to proctor detention? Teachers don’t have the time built into their schedules, and the word volunteer is a dirty word to the die-hard union teachers, who claim that there will then be a precedent of obligation for the rest of them. We’re working on the detention issue here at my school, but we don’t have it worked out yet.

So what’s left? Suspension. And that’s what we do. And we do. And we do. And we do. And what are the results? Angry, bitter students who are even farther behind in their classes and their work, and often don’t understand why they were suspended because it’s a very inconsistent process. Two students have their cellphones out in class, and only one is suspended despite the fact that I wrote them both up. Why? Who knows. But it’s frustrating all around.

What can we do? If I knew that, I’d be the queen of the education world. All that’s left is positive consequences, which we do have school-wide (kind of) and I do have in my classroom. How are they going? I’ll let you know next week, after our positive behavior pizza party for all the kids who have been doing a great job

Happy Weekend,

Miss SBT