My first teaching position in Philadelphia was at a charter school. A few years ago, the founders of it were charged with 29 counts of fraud and misuse of approximately $825,000. But, before that I worked for them as a 9th grade English teacher. My initial contract was exactly $1,000 less than my first Chicago Public School's contract when I only had a Bachelors degree and no experience. I forgot to mention that I worked for CPS nearly 11 years previous and at this time had a graduate degree in Education. Since this also came along near the first Boom, I signed the contract and started teaching.
It was a project based curriculum inspired by a student centered ideology, but was mired in disorganization and a lack of continuity. In order to survive I had to observe what worked and what did not, then I went into my teacher lab and wrote a curriculum that would address the observed needs of the students and teach them some valuable skills. There also was a great need for structure and discipline. When I arrived there was no clear consequences for disruptive behavior. All of my classes brainstormed a set of rules and consequences. Contracts were drawn up (signed by teachers and students) and a lunch detention was established for the entire 9th grade to utilize. I agreed to be in charge of lunch detention and after a few months of consistency we began to see small subtle changes towards more productive behaviors.
Then I asked the 9th grade teachers if we could meet in order to make the projects more connected and to provide support for our individual subjects. If we could work more as a team than the students would develop more cohesive relationships (prayerfully). Now, I helped all of the students prepare papers for English, Science, Computers, and Math. The computer teacher helped all of the students prepare visuals or PSA's (public service announcements) for long range projects.
The students created an online magazine/newspaper called Bananaz. It featured original poetry and reporting on school events and issues completed by the students. I even taught a dance for some of my 9th grade students to perform at the talent show. I even planned and researched a walking tour of historic Mt. Airy and West Oak Lane. Now, I know all about schist. Soon the school stopped contributing to PSER's and I could see the handcuffs in the future. So I quickly made an exit at the end of my first year and started teaching at a second charter school.
This one challenged me because many of the students had been there since 2nd or 3rd grade and now they were in 11th grade completely ill-equipped to matriculate into college. When I gave a survey to all 75 students to find out how many novels they had read based on the 125 suggested books listed on the Pennsylvania Board of Education web site, only about 5 or 6 had been read! The CAO believed that the students should all be taught in a certain way and did not take kindly to doing something different. She did not believe or agree with years of research that proved her methods completely wrong for middle and high school students. Hence, a decision had to be made. I decided to break the rules and format. I took a chance and could have been fired since charter school contracts can fire you with only a 2 week notice, but you have to provide a 30 day notice if you leave.
I ordered novels, the students were given more than the suggested hour of homework each night, weekly assessments were developed, and midterms and finals were created across all subjects. Similar to what students receive in the suburbs. We started with the word aardvark in the dictionary along with Greek and Latin roots. By the end of the year the students had acquired and mastered over 400 new vocabulary words and were able to write a few literary analysis as opposed to the book reports that were taught before. I encouraged them to take the SAT and ACT in order to have time for re-takes if needed. In order for this to work, I had to convince the students that this way worked. I had to convince them that if they told on me because the work was too hard, I was willing to be let go because their educational future was more important. The expectations were high, and because I was unable to give failing grades (Yeah, the lowest grade on the computer was a C-), I had to make sure that they regulated themselves. I was even responsible for junior prom. Out of 4 teachers, I planned and executed the event ALL ALONE.
About 3/4 of my students found an internship or summer experience through research and completing applications/recommendations during class. Many of them discovered their college majors as a result of these experiences. I even sent 7 students to participate in free student documentary training program at Scribes in West Philadelphia. We worked on college essays so that they would be ready to go for 12th grade. Two of my female students were the recipients of a scholarship that paid their full ride for an international tour of colleges that included Disney Paris and Oxford. It was a memorable week that they shared with the class. Whatever I found I passed it immediately to the students. I actively updated some of my IEP's for my special education students in order for them to reflect their growth as opposed to stagnation. My relationship with the counselor provided even more opportunities. Once again, I felt the future of handcuffs and the immoral grading was soon too much.
Once I started working for Philadelphia School District, I signed up to participate in the Summer Institute sponsored by the Philadelphia Writing Project housed at University of Pennsylvania. This experience reactivated my sense of teacher led research. And how writing is the key to cross-curricular connections and higher student engagement. I felt even more ready for my 9th grade teaching experience. Then something happened that I will never forget.
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