Recently I’ve had a lot of conversations with people in terms of etiquette, morals, culture and the basic social circumstances thus trying to educate, and become more informed of myself, and in total strengthen not just my own awareness, but the awareness of others.  I’m not going to lie, some interactions were strongly [I mean...STRONGLY] informative of my own personal brand of crude interjection into the world; There’s something about having someone literally step on your toes, and not noting that the event occurred.  One, I regret not being informative. Yet, there were a few others (actually, all the others I’m thinking of…)  there came a point, where the conversation became not butting head, not circles, but frustration, not necessarily with the other person or persons involved but with the fact that the only conclusions we came from were that we were pretty powerless because of the system that’s in place, and that we have to live with these systems.  Compound this to the different articles, news stories and blogs that I subscribe to, and well, I don’t know what to do, when I see both sides, make informed choices, listen to my heart, strive, sometimes (most times lately, actually) fail and try to attain some sense of closure while remaining realistic about getting up at some point tomorrow.

The overall hierarchy of my unease stems from feeling some sort of pressure from an omnipresent “system” that is spoken of in hush rumors from the “hood” of Buffalo, NY, mentioned in the hallways of NYC schools, and quite possibly confirmed of in hidden underground chambers below IVY league campuses. The problem I have with this rationalization of “systemic opposition” is that it is the opposition is plausibly amorphous.  Often I’ve felt like just when I think that I’ve figured out how to remove myself out from under its overwhelming weight, it just gets heavier, and if I don’t break (into pieces, or have a breakdown) and even if I do,  the floor under me probably isn’t too happy to have to have their ceiling endangered radically because of my fight.

Being amorphous this “systemic opposition” might be different for someone else.  The system or systems I see influencing me or my cultures isn’t necessarily the same for ever. In a blog written by Chris Norwood, she gives examples of the systemic oppositions that can occur in her experience as a social worker dealing with HIV/AIDS infected women and their families.  The blog speaks to how the allotment or rather dis-allotment of federal funds has (well to cheat my own vocabulary) “screwed” these families and quite possibly left bacteria that possibly could grown into an infection that breeds negative media images, or arkward experiences that we have with some young adults on the subway.  One heartbreaking statement she makes is

“Since 2005, the percentage of Bronx women among New York City women’s HIV/AIDS deaths has risen from 28% to 32%; we don’t know how many AIDS orphans these women have left behind-even with the well known Bloomberg Administration data obsession — that extends to having scooter patrols to count up potholes –”

How many children are out there grieving, acting out or in need of social services that exist somewhere?  I suppose that such is a generic question that can be applied cross culturally, objectively.  I think of an episode of “Law and Order:SVU” in which child protective services misplaced a child in their care.  The social worker in charge of that case was neither altruistic nor stoic and while her actions were the definition of neglectful, she felt remorses but was still obviously overworked even though she probably needn’t be because of a lack of funding.  How many news stories have we read of in the past few months about children under their umbrella that have been abused or have died?  Yet, cases of abused low-income/lower-income children have become altogether too rote after they break and once the initial public outrage (read:interest) in the story, coverage of it or its follow-up often receives byline (if that) mentioning.  Yet, if a middle to white collar child is treated in the same manner, a front page newspaper article and ongoing reports of the search are sent in seemingly hourly.  Hell, I shudder to mention this idea because of its triteness, and how distasteful it feels to compose the sentence;the queasiness continues when thinking of the number of federal laws that are passed that are named after or were inspired because of missing children of higher incoming earning adults.

While Norwood’s examples speak of just one specific population, it still makes me think of the serial unfair situations where I’ve thought to myself that I could feel what was happening, and yet, despite that awareness, something kept urging me down the road.  I mean, I’m here.  However, where exactly is “here?”  It certainly is not Shang-ra-la.

In my own life, I think of the opportunities I’ve had and the ones that just were and aren’t feasible because of decisions made before me.  I wish I were at liberty to share some of the things I think that have negatively influenced me in my life, but that’s not really fair to the other people who were there, and our existence.  I wish I could sum up every experience into a wonderful feeling like Nikki Giovanni does in her poem “Nikki-Rosa”   For instance, take the lines

“because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth and they’ll

probably talk about my hard childhood

and never understand that

all the while I was quite happy”

because love isn’t necessarily the kind of wealth that pays the bills, and the energy I spend trying to dodge my quite realistic fear of a growing a debt……ABRUPT ENDING.  See my working notes.

Repost of links-

“Those Bronx Bad Boys” by  Chris Norwood.  “Huffington Post” “http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-norwood/those-bad-bronx-boys_b_766366.html”

“Nikki-Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni.  Reposted from the Poetry Foundation.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177827

Working Notes – Not finished. I’m still trying to organize parts two and three in relation to this format.  I think that any actual discourse might be too heavy thus weakened by presenting it all at once.  I’m not even sure why I felt the need to lead with Norwood’s blog.  Also I know I didn’t do real MLA citations.  I’m tired.

[Chester Kent]
[Get in the Rye.com]
10..20.10

www.gitr.telldat.net

After listening to this, and reading the subsequent commentary, I found it was as how they describe the “Morning Edition.” I truly did find it a “perfect morning companion: gentle, but straightforward.”

Thinga in my life are changing.  Not necessarilly for the better but change is change I suppose.   In this regard, I plan on making this end of the blog (www.GetintheRye.com) more of an testomony without the emotiuonal gruff.  Just something of antedotoes about days subbing and lesson plans that worked or didn’t work.

In comparison, www.getintherye.wordpress.com will be my own personal blog in terms about me.  There you will be able to find the poems, and I suppose working notes, or real grit of what happened.  Whereas here, the only time I plan on using curse words or slang is when a kid hits me with such.

-Chester Kent

Ex. of How to Shoot Oneself in the Foot

Every single year we teachers in the upper grade levels do one thing that is the unofficial equivalent of throwing in the white towel.  Take a guess….Realizing that you did not leave enough time to finish that last novel, and realizing that you’re going to have to force feed all the appropriate themes, plots, and vocabulary for one final test that will let Eduardo R, or Tysha J. know whether they should even both showing up for the final exam?  Not what I’m looking for, but it happens to all of us.  Take another shot….What do all upper level teachers do that is the unofficial equivalent to a playing of the extended version of the Fat Lady’s swan song?  Hint…Science/Math  teachers, it’s not switching into full on test prep mode?  That usually signifies that any minute in the hallways, some down on their grade student is going to ask you to reteach the quadratic equation.

No, the unofficial end to the year is that day when we reward the good kids for being good kids all year.  They get to go to Six Flags, Canada’s Wonderland, or some other various accident waiting to happen trip as a sign of our gratitude that they did not shoot at, stab, or curse you out during the school year, all the while maintaining a decent grade point average, and normal human composure.  This trip also has the debatable intentional or unintentional effect of saying to the kids not going “Better Luck,  next year!  (Fuckwad)” as the bus to a great escape leaves them in stranded to a muggy day of educational instruction.

Handsome Reward.

So you see-  This is how we stab ourselves in the foot.  We tell our “good kids”  have fun but “not too much fun.”  No matter what, hijinx (Hijinx, I exclaim) will ensue.  For example, there’s always going to be a few kids who manifest their inner bad ass for a few hours out in public.  Or the girl who loses her wallet, and her ID. There might even be a hint of a stolen cellphone, or lunch.  While the trip is fun for the kids, it’s  definitely more of a Great Adventure for the adults.

Conversely, imagine coming into work wearing your professional dress and passing by your colleagues in shorts and t-shirts, all with grins just as wide on their faces as the day to come is long on yours.  When taking attendance you realize that all of the children you mildly enjoy, the ones that you look out into the classroom, and make eye contact with to remind yourself that there is at least one kid listening, and possibly even sympathetic to your plight.  The kids who come to school come in expecting it to be a blow off day, and it’s true.  In theory, you could forge on with important review work, but really, all that does is make you want to hit your head against your desk because all of your Aces in the holes are gone. The day in so many ways is bullshit, pure and unfiltered.

Ye Olde New York City Publick Schoole

To this I say (and mostly because I am no longer of school age….) let’s schedule these trips after exams. Or maybe on a weekend day so that a day of instruction and/or review isn’t lost.  In such a way, we can all then share the unfortunate blaring discomfort of a poorly planned school without ventilation.

Thanks to Miss Eyre [NYCeducator] for that word and the writing prompt for this entry.  She says, I quote

I have to admit that I’m still a little confused about what’s going to happen when and if the layoffs actually transpire. Will the ATRs land back in classrooms? Will my summer vacation stretch out into one long span of funemployment, since I have no idea what I would do if I wasn’t teaching? I’d come up with something, I suppose, but, perhaps without even realizing it, I came to believe that I’d be teaching forever.

This sentiment really does touch my heart.  Since I lose my first job teaching, I admit life has been a period of “funemployment.”  I haven’t necessarily been able to figure out what else I could do as a replacement for teaching.   While teaching teaches the person instructing something, I don’t really know how to re-classify or fix it onto a resume.  Is there a way to say that on a daily basis you (and your coworkers) worked to insure that the next generation of human beings can speak to each other.  How do you translate into or summarize in a short sentence or two that not only did you have to prepare and maintain order over 27 or more students at a time, but that you had to make sure that that time spent under your car was purposeful, and that if any of your “employees” have parents that have no issue with getting in your face, well, it’s more than appropriate that they do.

“Funemployment” is the equivalent of being relegated to Dante’s Purgatory.  It’s like not even being recognized as a part of this work force.  So many programs (the Teaching Fellows comes to mind instantly) recruit career changers into utilizing their skills into teaching.  However, how vice-versa, where’s the detox for people who smile inside when a former student surprises them walking down the street?  Where’s the rehab for the former English Teachers who can’t walk by a pile of discarded books without thinking “Maybe I can teach this to standards.”  What becomes of a person who has realized and defined themselves by chalkboards when there aren’t any chalkboards left anymore?

Who knows?

The way the economy feels about teachers....

[Chester Kent]

www.GetintheRye.com

(With special thanks to NYCeducator

So Mrs. Englishx2  was going to take a Greyhound to Boston but since she had never actually taken Greyhound before thus she asked a few questions of the other teachers in the lounge.  Being that it was a 3 day weekend, she wasn’t exactly how to go about buying her ticket, how early to get there, and other like logistics.  She had been planning to take a 3 PM bus to Boston, but being that she needed to arrive at least a half hour before her departure,  she would be cutting into the school day and the last few periods she would be teaching…..

Cut to the end of the school,  Mrs. Englishx2 was paged over the speaker several times.  When moving time cards, and punching out, several other teachers reminded the office staff (Payroll, Attendance, et al.) that Mrs. Englishx2 had left early to catch her bus. However, this was the first time the office and administration had heard of her leaving early.  Thus began an investigation into who covered her classes, trying to ascertain when she left, and finding the missing cellphone she had confiscated from a student earlier in the day.

I’m not really sure of the entire resolution, as the missing person report/apb went out on her at the close of the school day, but this is a primary example of adults doing stupid things.  Not only has she put a half days pay at risk, but most likely she will be a trending topic tomorrow the entire day.  I have a feeling she kind of won’t be into school tomorrow, a victim of the end of year ghost.

Again, it goes to show you,  high school teacher should be far more aware of  the examples they set forward to the kiddies when they. the teachers themselves, skip school.

[Chester Kent]

www.GetintheRye.com

I had originally plotted out to make this posting about  the young charge whom I had dubbed “The Obvious Asshole” because he doesn’t even try to hide his animosity about being educated.  Of this child, his mother has said “Well, he has a problem with authority figures.”  Which means that her action plan for dealing with her son doesn’t actually involve anyone else, or trying to reprogram him to being, amendable with taking orders, especially considering he is only something like 16 or 17.

I realize that “The Obvious Asshole” is such a horrible term to use for a child, but it’s so universal and it fits.  At some point in their career, every educator has met that one kid that is possessed of  impermeable propensity/inclination to being a nuisance.  In Pre-K, this kid probably peed on the carpet, or had issues with taking naps.  In K-3, this child made scenes just because well it could.  This child is loved, and loves attention, and at this point, it even understands the difference between positive and negative attention.  Yet, somewhere in their brain a pitched-forked devil is keeping common sense captive.  This kid becomes the one that teachers worry about taking out in even the most minute public arena, like walking down the hallway.  This type of student is a real life Bart Simpson, albeit the commercial breaks, 30 minute resolution or ability to just turn off the TV.

The funny thing about the “OA” that I dealt with in that particular senior English Class I was covering isn’t even that anything that super infuriating happened in that class; I derive my ultimate chuckle from the conversation with the regular teacher when we next met.  It seems that despite the outreach- calls home, referrals to guidance, meetings with other teachers, “OA” has successfully managed to maintain what can only appear to be his desired English Avg grade of 19.  Apparently, his also was guest starring in that class as I was, since he had not been in attendance when the regular teacher was there for oh say, four months?  And has not been back in there, since I left apparently.  He works hard for his grade.

Just scratch college out and add 11th grade.  I really had to hold back writing this one because I just discovered the “OA’s” equivalent in the faculty and I’m not sure what to call ‘em yet.

Thanks for the comments, and take care of yourselves.  Please do check out the original post at

www.GetintheRye.com

[Chester Kent]

We all have Kodak
moments/ but when the true
Polaroid moments are
happening (mostly when
we are alone)-
The only thing left
to do is paint or
draw the story with
words.

[But that's another tale]

This is about that moment
when we are not dependent
of someone else/ (how intimate
we can be with someone else)
even
if we feel them on our
back.
Falling rapidly (fearful of
missing the drop zone and
terminal velocity.)

[This is how I fall.]

There would be screaming
but who’s here to
hear
(and times before I
have screamed at the
top of my lungs about
my fears, arms
flailing, reaching
for the cord,
or the living being
attached to me.)

These are the moments when
it doesn’t matter if
I roll my eyes or if I can
count on previous feats of
willpower. Hope.  Compassion.
The ability to overpower
fear and rage.

No matter what happens,
I have to throwaway
the myth of flying,
and pull-out of this.

(God forbid that I
cut-away at this point,
or depend on someone
else to do it
for me.)

Nothing or anyone can capture
the moment
or measure how you feel (inside)
when-
you realize “I’m
falling and I haven’t
hit the ground yet.”

The Nyc hiring freeze pretty much had already ruined all my dreams for some sort of stability in the education field for the next year; I guess I can take solace in the fact that I am not alone there.  There are also hundreds of others who went to school for such a career and yet are now also dumb-founded as to what to do.  Even though we have invested a lot of money into this journey – testing fees(CST’s, LAST, ATS-W, CLEP,) application fees, fingerprinting and background checks fees, substitute licensing fees, and on car services when said subbing jobs have me in the middle of nowhere and hopstop or mapquest didn’t really estimate walking correctly – it’s all coming down to seemingly for naught. To make those of us in this position feel even less hopeful, Joel Klien (the Commissioner of Schools) sent out this email this morning:

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to give you an update on the hiring restrictions and how they impact our overall budget situation for the upcoming school year.

When we implemented the hiring restrictions in May, we did so to ensure that the size and cost of the excessed staff pool did not grow to the point where even more cuts would be required. I am aware that these restrictions limit your choices, but this policy is the only way to preserve your ability to select your own staff, a hard fought change in school hiring that we sought and achieved based on your feedback.

We continue to monitor the excess situation on a daily basis. A number of you have already selected internal candidates, including excessed staff, to fill your vacancies. But even with these hires, we still have many teachers in excess. As a result, we need to work together before the start of the school year to avoid any year-to-year increase in the number of teachers in excess and avoid unacceptable financial consequences. I am sure some of you are waiting to either declare or fill vacancies with the hope that hiring restrictions will be lifted soon. While I understand your desire to staff your schools with the candidates you feel will be the best fit, you should be aware that excessing conditions make it unlikely that we will lift hiring restrictions across the board in any other subject areas. To date, we lifted the hiring restrictions for almost all districts in special education and for all schools in other shortage areas, such as bilingual special education, speech, and most sciences.  Prospectively, there may be some targeted lifting of restrictions – in specific districts and subjects – but I anticipate even those targeted exceptions will be very limited. As we continue to monitor the situation, we may even need to re-impose some hiring restrictions in areas where we have lifted them.

Given these circumstances, you should not hold back on creating and filling vacancies. The best internal candidates – both teachers in excess and other teachers seeking transfers – are available now and the widest possible pool exists during the Open Market Transfer period, which by contract closes on August 7. It is crucial that you are staffed appropriately for the opening of school and therefore should create and fill vacancies as quickly as possible from the current pool of available internal candidates. Your HR Partner and the Office of Teacher Recruitment & Quality can assist you in identifying internal candidates. Many of the teachers in excess are relatively new teachers who you and your colleagues hired one, two or three years ago; many others are also dedicated teachers who could be a good fit for your school. Some excessed teachers can be hired with a subsidy, whereby central will bear a significant part of the cost even after you hire them.

I am aware that some schools will have staffing needs for short and long term absences. Please remember that you cannot use per diems and F-status staff to cover vacancies; this is something we will be monitoring. Per our agreement with the UFT, if you need to fill a vacancy caused by a leave or a sabbatical, you can hire excessed staff on a provisional basis. A provisional hire means that you are hiring the individual for only this coming year. At the end of the school year, that teacher will return to the excess pool unless you both agree he or she should remain on your staff. Questions about this process, subsidies or other matters pertaining to excesses should be directed to your HR liaison in the ISC or CFN.

Only by working together can we successfully navigate this challenging situation. I realize that you have already had to make difficult and painful decisions as a result of current budget conditions. In the case of staffing, however, critical steps remain. To the extent that vacancies are not scheduled or that the process of filling them is being delayed, the actions of individual schools have the potential to negatively impact all of our schools. I am deeply grateful for all that you are already doing to make the best choices for your school under difficult circumstances, but I ask that you please move expeditiously to schedule and fill your vacancies.

Sincerely,

Joel Klein

See.  That’s the kind of dream dashing email I find in my inbox in the morning.  I also love how he also specifically pointed out how “per diem/subs” are not to be used to fill in any holes for breaks such as a maternity leave or not.  I honestly have no clue.  I already had submitted my name to the Archdiosece pool for Catholic Schools again, but I have about as much hope for that as I did the year before.  I’ve also put my feelers out with people that I know, and as I’m coming to learn, in the field of education, teachers and secretaries are only just slightly better than the principals unless they are getting some sort of personal game out of it.  (I think it’s the humanitarian aspect of teaching that drains the humanity and decency out of some people to other adults.)   I’m frantically searching and trying to plan my next move as my own personal life, and my own self esteem issues are desperately starting to kick in.

What I do know is that I promise a humorous blog next.  It’s too sunny out for doom and gloom.

[Chester Kent]

Even the most skeptic person would have a problem not giving DeGrassi accolades for its foresight.  An episode that I caught a few weeks back between two characters, Rick and Terri,invoke the current domestic abuse issues that students are facing due to the media’s ferocity in covering the recent Umbrella-Gate of Rihanna and Chris Brown.  DeGrassi didn’t force the relationship on the characters so that they could be the case of the week.  What we saw was a troubled young man, who managed to hurt his girlfriend, at first subtly but finally physically until the other students in the school took a stand.

In my eyes, showing that episode could easily be a way to force a discussion or debate about domestic abuse without the speculation of bystanders.

Recently, I was able to utilize DeGrassi during a Community Service class that I was covering.   I was able to take the school shooting and the bullying that occurred on DeGrassi as an example that was able to build up into a pretty good discussion on bullying.  Then I was able to steer the conversation into ways that the kids would respond to some of the comments that the villainous Holly J. (played superbly by Charlotte Arnold) made.

[flash ]

I mean, who says such outloud to someone who is being nice to them.  In any event, I’m working on a worksheet to guide students through a tighter conversation; I would still consider this lesson an overwhelming success.

[Chester Kent]

Originally posted at www.GetintheRye.com

To try to outsmart the all great and powerful “Subcentral” that calls sporadically between 6:30 AM to 8:00 Am when it wants to give me a job (or at 8:30 Am when it wants to give me a job that has already been filled by the time it calls me) I created a cover letter that I dropped off at some neighborhood schools.  I also take it with me when I go to a school when I sub and give it to the payroll secretary or one of the Assistant Principals.  However, it really hasn’t been that successful, and  I’m not sure why.  I’d be interested if anyone wants to give me some constructive changes I could make to it.

Dear Sir/Madam:

 

I am writing to apply for a position as a substitute classroom teacher at your school. At present, I am registered with the New York City Department of Education as a licensed substitute and am awaiting confirmation of intial certification in Secondary English Education. I am available to accept either daily or long-term assignments, and would appreciate being considered for any permanent faculty position that might be available. Please find enclosed copies of my credentials for your files.

 

As a member of the English department, I taught at XXX XXXX High School during the 2007-08 academic year. This experience afforded me the opportunity to craft lessons and implement strategies that strengthened my students’ ELA skills. Being called upon to cover classes for absent faculty allowed me to engage and interact with students possessing a broad range of skills, abilities and needs, ultimately shaping and strengthening my own classroom management skills.

 

Again, thank you for your consideration of my application and review of my credentials. Please contact me via the information above if I may provide any further information or documentation. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hope to explore the possibility of joining the faculty of your school.

 

Best wishes for the remainder of the academic year.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Chester Kent

I also have emailed it to a few principals whose emails I was able to find online.  I wonder if  it’s doing too much extra.