In early September 2006 I accepted a substitute teaching assignment at Clark Middle School. I was teaching Math to a classroom of students that had started the year with a "regular" teacher who did not stay in the position & in the previous days/weeks the students had 2 or 3 other substitute teachers. In less than a month; I was the 4th teacher these students would have. For the most part; these students could have been considered "at risk" students, they were in a chaotic environment. They were confused, upset, and without any form of classroom stability.
I don't know if I considered this situation more outrageous or the fact the classroom was equipped with a "chalk board"! A CHALK BOARD IN THE 21ST CENTURY! I wondered if I should look around the room for Pebbles & Bam-Bam. The important issue:
THE STUDENTS WERE BEING CHEATED!!
I decided that even if this situation was the only one of its kind in the ASD, it's important to make changes/updates and have it done quickly. To partially quote a statement in a recent issue of "Inside ASD" (ASD's newsletter), "... keeps chugging along thanks to those who know how to make it operate, but like an aging automobile, what's under the hood just doesn't meet the standards of modern performance."
Given the following important issues:
- teacher recruitment and retention and giving them the proper tools so they can focus on teaching and do the best job they can under all the demands the public and government put on them;
- student time on task and the necessity of teachers to present differentiated instruction to classes so to best meet the needs of each individual's learning needs;
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and more importantly, what these students had to endure in this classroom. I decided I had to step up and try and help push forward changes to better the learning environment for our students and teachers.