Sunday, October 25, 2015

We Are Defenseless

Although it dates back a ways, a Facebook post on my Facebook page from a Vietnam veteran friend went something like this.  I'll paraphrase, "this country needs to stop worrying about terrorists and start worry about what the guy that lives next door is doing."  So you know my friend lives as far west as Washington, which, if my memory serves me correctly, is even farther west than Utopia (Utah, as most people spell it).  The post to my Facebook page was made shortly after the school shooting that took place in Washington.  My friends post got me thinking about the seemingly non-stop shootings that are taking place in our country and I decided to reply to his post with this response.  "I have not had a weapon in my hands that I can call my own since I left Vietnam in 1971, maybe it's time to rethink that."  Sadly, the state of Washington was not the last of the school shootings and I wondered what would happen if the next school shooting took place at my school.  After thinking about it for a short while I realized that we, the staff and scholars at my school, are totally defenseless.  Not only could we not defend ourselves against an intruder with a weapon, we couldn't defend ourselves against an intruder with a knife, long pipe, baseball bat, or for that matter large rocks.  Knowing this, while sitting at my desk with my view from the back of the room, I looked around the classroom for an object that I could use to defend myself, plus the scholars and Gnu and finally I thought of one.  Inside of the cubbies (lockers) that are in the classroom is a wooden shelf.  If you hit this self aggressively from the bottom it will pop loose and you can remove it from the cubbie.  It's wood, it's solid, it's has some good weight to it, and if you have the element of surprise you can hit someone over the head with it and cause serious damage.  Unfortunately, you have to get very close to the intruder with a piece of wood and for me personally I'd like to attack the intruder from a much safer distance with an object that fires a projectile.  So where does one find an object in a school that fires a projectile?  That's easy, in the gym where, at least in our school, you will find bows and arrows.  And best of all, according to our now retired PE teacher, I'll call him The Poet, you can adjust the tension on the bow and it will then serve our purpose.  Before all you naysayers chime in let me say this.  We have, in our school, someone that is very familiar with the bow and arrow.  This person possesses one and takes it to a practice range with some regularity.  This person also uses to it hunt.  So who is this person you ask, Gnu.  You heard this correctly.  She owns one, practices with it and hunts with it.  There is only one problem, the bow and arrows are in the gym and not our classroom so can we get to them quickly?  No!  Will we be able to use them to defend ourselves even if we placed the items in our classroom?  No!  So do we remain defenseless with an intruder in the building?  Yes!  For the record, I'm against being defenseless.

One brief item about me and weapons.  I can recall quite clearly the last time I had a weapon in my hand.  It was 1975 and I was talked into going hunting in West Branch, Michigan by my college roommate.  When we arrived at his parents house he brought out two shotguns.  He tried to hand me one but I refused saying I don't think I can shoot anything.  He replied, well, at least take it and walk with me while I hunt for rabbits.  I agreed to that and off I went with my loaded twelve gauge shotgun.  We weren't out in the field long when we scared up a rabbit.  It bolted straight out in front of me.  My weapon was up, the rabbit was in the crosshairs, I couldn't pull the trigger.

One brief item about Gnu and her bow and arrow and I'll move on to the scholars.  Please keep in mind, I don't make this stuff up.  Gnu was telling me about taking her bow to a sporting goods store because she wanted the tension of the bow reduced because she was having a hard time pulling the bow string all the way back to it's full velocity position.  With the adjustment made to the bow tension she was testing it using a special trigger release.  When she pulled back on the bow string the trigger release malfunctioned causing her hand to release quickly from the bow string in the direction of her face resulting in her hand hitting her on the nose giving her a bloody nose right there in the sporting goods store.  Maybe I'll rethink my defensive strategy with a bow and arrow.

Gnu introduced a new chapter book on Monday.  The book is from The Magic Tree House series and is titled, Ghost Town at Sunset.  As Gnu was sitting at her front table handing out the books to the scholars she told them that in order to read this book correctly there needed to be background music.  The scholars quickly offered some suggestions but they were rejected because Gnu had already selected the song, "Oh My Darling, Clementine."  Just before MiniJ started reading the first sentence in chapter one, Gnu stopped him saying "I forget to give you something."  She reached under her table and picked up a bag.  She opened the bag and said to the scholars, "if we are going to read a story about the old west then everyone needs to be wearing a cowboy hat."  She promptly placed a cowboy hat on the head of each scholar and then MiniJ was allowed to begin the story.  Have I mentioned previously that I really enjoy working with this teacher.

We needed some hallway bulletin board material so Gnu drew, on a huge poster board, a tree.  It started with roots at the bottom, then a trunk in the middle, and at the top was tree branches minus the leaves.  The scholars were told they were going to make their Life Tree. On the roots at the bottom the scholars were to make notations about their early years beginning at birth.  On the trunk they were to make notations about where they are right now in their life.  On the branches they were instructed to talk about what they wanted to do in the future.  Once the branch section was complete the scholars were instructed to draw one leaf on each branch where they talked about what they wanted to do in the future.  When the leaf drawing was completed the scholars were told to right down the name of the person that they thought could best help them meet their future goal on the leaf.  At one point during this project Grr! asked me for some help as he didn't know what to write on the branches.  As he sat next to me I asked him what he wanted to do or be in the future.  His response really took my by surprise as he said he wanted to be a paleontologist.  I told him that was an excellent goal but he had to wait a minute before he wrote it down as I needed to get the dictionary so I could spell it correctly.  With paleontologist now on a branch I asked him what he needed to do to be a paleontologist.  His response was to shrug his shoulders.  I said to him do you think you need to graduate from high school.  He said yes, so I told him to write graduate from high school on one of his branches.  I then asked him if he needed any other education beyond high school to be a paleontologist.  Again he shrugged his shoulders.  So I restated the question.  What school do you go to after you graduate from high school.  Again, the shoulder shrug.  As I sat there working with him it became apparent that he had no concept that education continued past high school.

The Collector's sister was talking to Gnu on the playground at recess when I approached them.  So you know, The Collector's sister is in the fourth grade and is in a general education classroom.  As I approached them I heard The Collector's sister say that she didn't get any sleep the night before.  When Gnu asked her why not she said because the police were all over her neighborhood in the middle of the night.  Gnu asked her what happened and she responded, there was a killing in the house across the street from my house.

EM was talking to Gnu about his new house that he recently moved into.  He was telling her that there were bats in the house.  Apparently there is a hole in the window of a second story room and bats have been seen flying in the house.  EM even went as far as to say that his dog was chasing the bats trying to bit them with his mouth.

Gnu, MiniJ, and EM were talking at the front table.  MiniJ was telling them about the water bed that he sleeps on at night.  EM said he'd like to have a water bed as he had to sleep on the floor.  Gnu asked for clarification by saying you mean you sleep on a mattress that is on the floor.  EM said he don't have a mattress, he sleeps on the floor.  Gnu then said do you have a pillow?  He responded, no.  She then asked him if he had blankets.  He said yes.  The conversation ended and again I found myself saying a little prayer for this young scholar.

I'm in my favorite blogging spot, the screened in porch on the back side of my house.  The sun is setting and the temperature is dropping so I'm going to call it a day.  Thanks again for following along and if you don't mind, please keep the scholars in your prayers as they have so many obstacles to overcome in their life that I'm fearful that they will not be around long enough to fulfill their goals that are on those three branches.








  



              

Monday, October 19, 2015

And Now She Is Gone

Damn!  Another person gone, another change in the lives of our young scholars that have so many obstacles to overcome.  Just once, and I don't think I'm asking a lot, I like to go through an entire school year without someone unexpectedly leaving.  It ridiculous, frustrating and the worse part is I found out via a text message in the middle of fall break so I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Come to think of it, I received two text messages during fall break.  You just heard about one of them and now I'll tell you about the other one.  The final decision from the case conference that took place regarding The Collector is in.  As a reminder, The Collector has really been struggling this school year, mostly as a result of a lack of medication, will not be going into some type of residential facility as was requested by his parental unit.  The final decision was to change his medication to see if that will help.  In addition to the medication change there is the possibility that The Collector will go to a reduced school day.  That is an interesting option given that his parental unit earlier recommended that he be removed from home and place in a residential facility.  I'm sure this parental unit will be thrilled to death that her scholar may soon be spending more time with her rather than less. 

Fall break down in Panama City Beach, Florida was interesting.  I got to talk to other teachers about their school and the issues/challenges they face.  What was of particular interest was the conversations about those high and mighty private schools that so many people think are the best thing going.  After our somewhat lengthy conversation I've drawn the following conclusion about the difference between the hoity toity private school and the whipping post of the lowest life form, the public school.  It's pretty simple actually, one set of parental units has a lot of money and no sense and the other set of  parental units have little money and no sense.  I'm sure you are curious about the conversations I had with other school teachers from other parts of the country so I'll share a few.
  • One young scholar has one of the best scams going that I've ever heard about.  So as not to hurt the scholars feelings, self esteem, embarrass or whatever the current buzz word is, you can't call on this scholar to answer a question in the classroom.  Should the teacher have a mental lapse and actually ask this scholar a question and the parental units or their paid professions that are hired to protect the parental units prized trophy find out they turn into pit bulls and threaten lawsuits all because their scholar was asked a question.
  • Due to the very intense classroom environment another young scholar, who starts to get stress during the school day, can request a time out.  When given this time out the scholar has two choices, eat a snack to relax or take a ball to the overhead area of the school and play catch with someone in an overhead position until the stress level drops.
  • I really like this one as it has to do with sports.  The parental units of this fine young scholar decided that they needed to change schools as the school their scholar was attending didn't have enough athletes to form a sports team.  So off they go to a new school solely so their scholar can play sports.  Unfortunately the parental units picked a new school that has some pretty high academic standards and guess what?  Their scholar was well below the academic standard and can't play sports.  So what do they do, go postal, threaten lawsuits, insist that all meetings taking place regarding their scholar academic standing be tape recorded to see if they can find a weakness in the school's position so they can sue the school. 
  • Last one.  This school had a bullying incident.  The incident involve several scholars of one race and one scholar of another race.  Unfortunately for the several scholars of one race, they got caught.  This will now get a little interesting because this straight up incident of bullying/racism resulted in a one day in-school suspension for the guilty parties.  It makes me wonder if the punishment, which is nothing more than a slap on the wrist, would have turned into an expulsion if the bullying/racism roles were reversed in this incident. 
The text message came on Wednesday while on fall break.  Gnu sent me the text message and all it said was that IvyL was being moved to a new location.  This initial message was immediately followed by a second text message from Gnu.  All the second text message said was, "ridiculous."  For those of you that are not familiar with IvyL, she is a behavior therapist that visits our classroom at least once and sometimes twice a day to work with the scholars on their social and behavior skills.  With the exception of academics this is the single most important event taking place in our classroom and now all the relationships IvyL built up with our scholars is for nothing as she is gone.  Earlier in the school year I was aware that IvyL was struggling, especially with the scholars in Knew2's classroom, and that she lost her composure a few times.  Although that is not supposed to happen it does.  I'm living proof that these scholars can get to you and you lose your composure as I cracked a window in the classroom a couple years ago.  I also know that every person that I've worked with in my classroom going back over three school years has lost their composure at one time of another with the scholars.  It can be a very stressful environment to work in and to use a term used by PhD(?)Sparty a few years ago when I cracked that window you made a "human error."   IvyL made a human error and for some reason she was moved.  Gnu described this event as "ridiculous."  I could use a much stronger word to describe what happened but I think I'll just stick with RIDICULOUS!

I'm on my last full day of fall break.  In about eighteen hours I'll be back in the classroom.  Thanks for sticking around and reading the musing of an old man who just lost a colleague and a friend as a result of a human error.            

Monday, October 12, 2015

It Started With John Punch and Escalated

The first quarter of the school year is in the books.  Gnu is celebrating the occasion by attending a concert with some of her lady friends.  She told me the name of the artist but I forgot it.  Despite not recalling his name I do know this much about the artist.  He plays country music and she has tickets in the front row and is practically drooling in anticipation of being so close to this male singer.  I'm celebrating in a completely different manner as my part time editor, part time consultation and full time spouse left me the list.  Do the laundry, vacuum the carpets, go to UPS and mail this package, go to the license bureau and get out license plate tags, take the recycling to the recycling station, do the laundry, blow the leaves out of the garage and off driveway, and blow the pine needles off of the back deck and it is only Tuesday.  One of these days I'm going to get up the nerve to put my pants back on and say NO!

The last week of the quarter was a bit of a mixed bag.  Mandatory testing took place as the third (MiniJ and Uh-Uh-Uh) and fourth grade (EM) scholars had to take the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) tests.  This is the first time I've been involved with the NWEA testing so I know little about it except for this.  Our scholars took a reading, language use, and math test.  I also am aware of this.  Now that the testing is over the scholars have a base line test score.  From this point forward they should be showing improvement in their scores.  That sounds reasonable but from a teachers perspective stress levels will increase as pressure from the lowest life form and the pointy headed intellectuals that support the lowest life form, in combination with school administration, will expect the scores to show improvement and a failure to do so may result in no salary increase and even worse, no job.  On a lighter note, our scholars didn't do that badly and Gnu felt pretty good about it.  EM, for the first time that I'm aware of, has a reading score and we were both pleased with that.  All three of the scholars now have a math base line score and all three were in close proximity to where they should be score wise.  That definitely put a smile on our face.  While Gnu and I were pleased with the scores, behavioral issues reared their ugly head toward the end of the week and put our feeling good mood on the back burner.  For reasons that I'm not sure about, EM is relocating again.  At some point in the preparations to move his parental unit seemed to have misplace his medication.  As you might anticipate that is not a good thing.  Twice during the week he got verbally aggressive and physically aggressive.  During the verbal aggression, you could visibly see the anger in his face before he erupted.  During the physical aggression, he picked up a desk and tossed it across the room.  In combination with this behavior he tried, unsuccessfully, to injure himself with pens, pencils and a broken plastic ruler.  So you know, this particular behavior was duly reported to the appropriate personnel at the school.  These were scary incidents for me.  I've sat within eight to ten feet of EM for the past two school years and the first nine weeks of this school year and have never seen behavior like this. When I inquired about his behavior I was told it was an anxiety issue due to a lack of medication.  The other behavior incident involved a former scholar, The Collector, and again, it is medication related.  The Collector has been off his medication in the past but something has changed and not for the good.  Now, when he is off his medication, he physical aggression increases to the point of causing injury (minor) to adults.  Due to his physical aggression a case conference was scheduled to determine what to do with this troubled scholar.  His teacher, Knew2, came down to talk with me about The Collector as I've had more experience with him and she wanted to know what I thought should happen.  My initial response was that he was off his mediation which is not entirely his fault.  At the same time I told her that his physical aggression has increased significantly this year and this type of behavior was well beyond my knowledge level so I didn't want to offer an uninformed opinion on what to do with him.  On the day of the case conference events took an interesting turn.  Apparently, The Collector's parental unit is going to lobby to have her scholar placed into a residential facility.  That caught me completely off guard and at first I was at a loss for words.  Dear parental unit, you are giving up on your scholar, you are recommending placement in a residential facility all because you failed to properly administer his medication.  Dear parental unit, if you had a thirty day supply of medication how did you run out before the thirty days were up?  Did you lose some, use some, sell some or what.  That's nuts!  I sent a text message to Gnu on Monday inquiring as to what happened at the case conference.  She texted me back stating that Knew2 had tried to call her but they didn't connect so as of right now she don't know what happened.  I'll keep you posted as to what happened and as we wait I'd like to ask you to say a pray for The Collector.  With the exception of a former scholar I called CorP, I've thoroughly enjoy working with The Collector.

So far this year I've been to a convocation, professional development and recently an institute.  That's a lot of time and effort to put into an old guy that just passed his sixty sixth birthday but as Henry Ford said, "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eight.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young." 

John Punch and two other gentlemen were indentured servants (not slaves) who decided to run away back in 1607.  Unfortunately, they got caught.  Two of the indentured servants had their time in servitude extended by four years.  The other indentured servant had his time in servitude extended for life.  Two of the indentured servants were eastern European.  The other indentured servant was African.  According to our day leader at this institute this was the first know case of discrimination against an man solely due to his race.  I'll let you figure out which of the three indentured servants was John Punch.

I spent two days at a racial equity institute with teachers, instructional assistants and other staff members of our school corporation.  During the lead-in to this two day presentation there was discussion about the academic gap between races.  That peeked my interest as I work with scholars of multiple races and if I was doing something wrong in the classroom to cause this academic gap then I wanted to stop doing it.  The two days started with the John Punch incident and then proceeded from 1607 through the election of President Obama.  For two days, incidents of racial discrimination were highlighted during this four century time period.  In the afternoon of day two I was getting a bit annoyed as I kept thinking I wasn't even born during the worse cases of discrimination so why do I have to hear this.  It was a this point that the discussion mentioned that the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) was created to help GI's from World War II purchase a home.  This agency was created so that all of the WWII veterans would be given an opportunity to purchase a home with no money down, low interests rates and thirty years to pay the loan back.  Mysteriously the rules changed.  White GI's were eligible for these loans as the law was intended.  African American GI's had to come up with fifty percent of the home value as a down payment.  The conversation then changed from the FHA loan to the GI Loan.  The GI Loan was established for all GI's who wanted to further their education but financially couldn't afford the cost of tuition.  And as with the FHA loan, the rules for African Americans changed when it came to applying for a GI loan.  I remember clearly applying for admission to college way back in 1973.  The Registrar speaking, "I'm sorry Mr. Schultz, your high school grades do not meet our minimum requirements for admittance."  "I realize that my grades fluctuated based on my interest in the class but can't you give me a chance as I'm older now and a Vietnam Veteran, I said."  Back to the Registrar, "your a Vietnam Veteran, we'll let you in but you will immediately be on academic probation and have to pass two ninety level classes (English and Algebra) to stay in school."  "If you fail either of these classes you are out."  I passed both classes and eventually graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in Business Administration and the only way I could afford to go to college and earn a degree was the GI Loan.  To be told at this racial equity institute that men that I knew while in Vietnam were eligible for a GI Loan but could not gain admission to a college because the academic rules mysteriously changed for them really upset me.  Just because an African American had poor high school grades is no reason to deny admission because my high school grades were poor and you let me in immediately because I'm a Vietnam Veteran.  Right after this discussion about the FHA and GI Loans I had what I called a re-awakening when it came to racial discrimination. 

At the start of this two day racial equity institute I thought I'd hear about ways to reduce the academic gap between scholars of various races.  Unfortunately that didn't happen and even though that was disappointing I did have this re-awakening about discrimination and going forward I can do my best to continue working towards it's elimination.

That's it.  I'm on fall break for two whole weeks.  Time to kick back, eat some sea food, consume a few adult beverages and watch the sun set in the west.  Thanks for sticking around.  I'm out.