City School Stories

Notes from the Field

Submitted by “Alex-a Philadelphia Public School teacher”, on January 20, 2011

Teaching children is hard. Period. Consistency and routine are crucial for any teacher to create a positive learning environment and foster real learning. Without consistency and routine teachers are less effective, students are confused, and everyone is stressed out.

Since the start of the school year I have taught five different variations of Corrective Reading, one of the “supports” the district believes will fix “low performing” schools.

It was only about three weeks into the school year when the Empowerment Schools Office eliminated the level “C” group that I taught. I was reassigned to an “enrichment class” of twenty-eight 7^th and 8^th grade students who tested out of the lower levels of the Corrective Reading program.

After a walkthrough was conducted at my school by an Empowerment Schools Office team, the enrichment class was deemed to be too large.  This instructional group was split into two separate enrichment classes. I was assigned a group of sixteen 8th grade students.

My students and I followed this variation for about two weeks until the Empowerment Support Office implemented more changes that immediately reversed the previous mandate to split up the enrichment group. I was sent to a professional development in mid-October.  At this half-day session, I was hastily trained to implement a nonfiction-based direct instruction program called Read To Achieve. This program lasted about three weeks until the Empowerment Office­ ordered teachers to immediately stop using RTA. Without any further training, I was directed to implement a brand new program called Junior Great Books. My school has yet to receive enough materials to properly implement this new program.

Unfortunately, inconsistency and lack of routine are also affecting core subjects such as reading and social studies. I began the year teaching reading to one section of 7^th grade students and one section of 8^th grade students. This schedule worked well for the first month of school with the exception of one glaring problem. There was no time or room in the schedule for students to receive social studies instruction.

When the Empowerment Office staff discovered this problem, they mandated that we change our schedule in order to fit in social studies for our middle school students. As a result of this change, I was once again reassigned. This time I was directed to teach social studies to all of the students in 7^th and 8^th grade.  It was like starting the school year over with these new instructional groups.  This created a confusing and inconsistent instructional environment for my students.

This new schedule lasted two weeks until the Empowerment Office mandated a 45-minute increase to both our reading and math blocks. I went back to teaching only reading classes.  The social studies classes for our upper grades were pushed to the end of the day. They became the responsibility of teachers certified in other subject areas, like related arts. These new instructors were told to work social studies themes and concepts into their subjects whenever and however they could.

The teachers and students at my school are striving to do their best despite the inconsistency that has plagued the first half of this school year.

Is it too much to hope that in the second half of the year we can finally settle into a routine and restore the positive and effective learning environment that used to be so consistent at my school?