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So two days ago, I participated in a protest with my school (and others) called the "March of Mourning" to fight for pink-slipped teachers to save their jobs.

Some facts:

• over 50% of the teachers at my school might get laid off come June
• Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) just got a bunch of stimulus $$ -- half of it will be spent on saving teachers' jobs, but not all of it (which means a couple of thousand teachers might still lose their job in LAUSD)
• LAUSD could choose to spend ALL the stimulus $$ on saving jobs, but the board members are choosing to save some of the money to use for the year after (to save teachers' jobs and not further exacerbate the financial situation)

Anyway, the REAL point of this post was to tell you that MY SCHOOL WAS ON NATIONAL TV! AND MY COWORKERS! AND SOME OF THE STUDENTS AT JOHN LIECHTY MIDDLE SCHOOL! Though I fully participated in the march, I didn't make it on TV.

I've embedded the CBS Nightly News from today (April 29th) and if you scroll to minute 9:45, you'll see some footage from the protest and from some classrooms in our school. (You'll have to get through the commercial at the beginning first).

Watch CBS Videos Online

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One of my coworkers told me I HAD to see this Simpsons episode about the "Vice Presidential Testing," a standardized test that all students have to take that determines how much $$ the school gets. Watch it and maybe you'll get a glimpse of the kind of pressure that teachers and students feel when mid-May comes around...

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"By comparison, if we wanted to have truly great teachers in our schools, we would assess them after their second year of teaching, when we could identify very strong and very weak performers, according to years of research. Great teachers are in total control. They have clear expectations and rules, and they are consistent with rewards and punishments. Most of all, they are in a hurry. They never feel that there is enough time in the day. They quiz kids on their multiplication tables while they walk to lunch. And they don't give up on their worst students, even when any normal person would."

-"Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge" - Time US

To get an idea of what Rhee's doing in DC, click here to read article

I want to be a GREAT teacher....and it's still a work in progress. I want THAT quote to describe ME. And many times in my classroom, it's a struggle to fight my desire to give up on some of my worst students... and it's so frustrating to fight the seemingly uphill battle against negligent parents, lack of motivation, drugs, gang activity, years and years of bad education. sigh.

It'll be interesting to watch Michelle Rhee's (a Korean American and TFA alum) career as superintendent of the Washington DC's public school system over the next couple of years to see if she's a big success or a big flop in turning around one of the worst school districts in the country.

Some things i'm going to be watching for:

1.) how she assesses whether teachers are GOOD or not. (i really don't think JUST looking at test scores is fair to teachers)

2.) whether her "fierce" nature will take her up to the top or be her downfall as she keeps turning people off

3.) if she can find a succesful way to fight against those social issues (like negligent parents, poverty, hunger) that plague the inner-city and if so, how she does it

4.) she plans on her teachers being the highest paid in the country -- i want to know what their salaries are going to be like and whether there will be any incentive bonuses

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Even in my third year, sometimes I come home feeling extremely frustrasted and discouraged. I LOVE my students, I do, but they drive me up the wall occasionally. Though many times they astound me with their creativity, ingenuity, brillance and sharpness, they're less than perfect. They disappoint me sometimes because they haven't mastered the skills expected of them or because their behavior is, for a lack of a better word, atrocious. And in those situations, I feel like a war-worn soldier who's still in the midst of a battle because I'm fighting, pushing and challenging my students to learn MORE, to behave BETTER, to work HARDER.

My 8th graders hate me for it. 

And it's hard to NOT take it personally.

So here's to Taylor Mali's "What Teachers Make" with random excerpts about my teaching experience interspersed between the transcript.

What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don't work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
http://www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

Asian parents are the worst.

"What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a teacher in Los Angeles."

"Oh." No follow-up questions asked. No compliments or even comments. Just the assumption that I'm simply not intelligent enough to have a more PRESTIGIOUS job

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

Sometimes, after conversations like that, it's hard to resist shouting, "What?! Not impressive enough for you?!" And "Oh yeah! I could have done whatever I wanted in life. I could be making six figures right now if I wanted!"

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

Yesterday, our 8th graders visited the local colleges. I had to divide my class in half for our tour guide.

"Raise your hand if you want to go with Ms. Hunt (my partner teacher)" I said loudly.

All 31 hands were raised. Great.

"What? None of you want to go with me?!"

After splitting my class up and sending the quietest, most respectful kids to Ms. Hunt, I was left with 15 kids who really just didn't want to be with me.

Cesar articulated their feelings to me the best. "WHY DO WE HAVE TO GO WITH YOU?" he shouted, "I DON'T WANT TO BE WITH YOU! YOU DON'T LET US DO ANYTHING!"

To which I think went off on him in front of 80 students and our tour guides. I said something like, "YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! AND GUESS WHAT? I DON'T WANT TO BE WITH YOU EITHER! I'M STUCK WITH YOU JUST AS MUCH AS YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME. SUCK IT UP AND GET OVER YOURSELF!"

Jennifer explained it to me later. "Miss, see, people think you're boring." I hate hearing that word describe me. "But see, we (gesturing to some other girls in the class) know you're cool. You just don't let us do whatever we want. You're strict."

What a change from my first year of teaching.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

Oh the power of parent conferences. When all the dirty laundry gets aired out. Oh man.

Good ol' Cesar. Earned himself a parent conference when he called me a "ho" in class. Let me explain.

He had forgotten his math textbook for the 3 straight day. Each day I warned him that he would earn an hour of dentention if he didn't bring his book to class. On the 3rd day, he showed up without a book. So, true to my promises, I wrote his name on the board and "1 hour" next to it. However, I accidentally wrote "1 ho" not "1 hr" for short and kids started laughing and pointed to the board to highlight my mistake.

"Haha, one ho" I laughed," Oops, my mistake," and went to the board to fix it.

As I was erasing "1 ho," Cesar boldly responded by saying, "That's what you are Miss."

Trust me. I busted his butt during that parent conference I held with him, his mom, the school counselor, Ms. Hunt and our Assistant Principal. By the end of the meeting, his mom was crying while repeating in Spanish, "Cesar, I didn't raise you to be like this! I told you to be respectful to your teachers," and Cesar was doing that hyperventilating crying thing where every other word  that comes out of his mouth is interrupted by intakes and gasps for breath and was wiping his eyes every other second with the back of his hand as the tears continue to fall. "I don't ..have a... problem with...Ms. Hunt...it HER..that... I ...hate..." This conference went on for an hour and a half.

I haven't had a problem in class with him since.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

I tell my kids everyday that they are capable of learning math and science, afterall it's middle school and classes shouldn't be hard yet. I want my kids to leave my classroom with the belief that they can succeed in life with enough hard work and effort, that failure is okay, as long as they learn from their mistakes and redo. Hopefully I've indoctrinated at least one kid this year with those ideals.

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

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I was organizing my picture files on my computer and came across this comic drawn by one of my 3rd period students, Brenda H.

She had just finished taking her test and I knew I HAD to get her to do something quietly, anything really, or she'd disrupt the silence in the classroom by talking to another classmate.

"Draw me something Brenda," I told her.

She thought to herself for a couple of seconds and then looked up at me with her wild crazy eyes (yeah they were scary), laughed to herself and started to draw.

 She actually drew me 2 comic strips. I'll post the second one at a later date.

Ms. Chen & Your boyfriend (the No Name)

No Name: Let's go to the movies.

Ms. Chen: Why not sexy. You pay. Let's go babe. 

No Name: Okay honey bunny. 

I love how Brenda depicted our conversation so accurately. That's how Matt and I talk to each other all the time. Puahaha.

I miss Brenda. I wonder how her freshman year of high school went or  whether she even stayed in high school. I hope she's doing well for herself and that she's trying to learn and get an education wherever she is.

Thanks for the laughs.