At Summer's End

The signs are everywhere. 

Kids being dragged to the store for new sneakers, backpacks and lunch boxes. Teachers like me are finding their way kicking and screaming to their classrooms, to put away new supplies, dress up the bulletin boards, organize class lists and arrange classroom furniture. 

But the start of school is never so evident as it is in a college town. 

I see it every year as the students start to move in. They gather in front of the dorms with their parents, carrying boxes and milk crates, computers and printers. The streets are suddenly busier and the sidewalks are full of white ear phone wearing, backpack carrying kids heading to class.

This year I'm watching it all with a new perspective because next fall I'll be the one sending one off to college. 

We took two college tours with him this week. I love the feeling of walking around a college campus. The ivy covered brown stones oozed intelligence, the marble staircases gleamed with promise as we climb them to view a lecture hall.  Boston University is a "sexy" school, right in the middle of a bustling city with Fenway Park right around the corner. I know, I know not a reason to choose a school but...

We all followed our tour guide and listened intently to everything she had to say. Actually, not all listened intently. One miserable father who coincidentally was wearing a yankee cap on his head had nothing good to say about anything she showed us. I really think he was just unhappy to be standing in the shadows of THE PAHK.

Our tour ended and as we stood waiting for the train to our next tour destination, the kid looked at me and said,  "I don't think this school is conducive to my learning, it's just too busy." 

Good to know!

We arrived at our next destination. Another big Boston school, but this one felt different. I could actually picture him walking around this campus, going from class to class, living in that dorm room, eating in that dining hall and studying in that library. The more our guide showed us, the bigger the kid's smile got and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.

I knew for sure when he jumped in the front of the line to rub the nose on the bronze Huskie for luck! "Please let me get in to this school", I heard him say.

I don't know where he'll end up, there are still more tours to take and more mascot noses to rub, but he'll find the right fit because he's a smart boy with a good head on his shoulders. 

So I'll watch him navigate through his senior year, I'll help him with the forms and the applications and I'll edit the essays and when it comes to carry the milk crates I'll do that too and I may even rub a mascot nose or two along the way.

C is for College

Not only do I live in a tourist town, which by the way is particularly "interesting" this time of year, I also live in a college town. This has it's advantages and also it's disadvantages.

I love the whole collegiate atmosphere, watching students of all ages walking through campus and on the surrounding sidewalks and streets. It's convenient for my husband who is taking classes there, we can catch NCAA sporting events on a regular basis, we can skate at the rink and can swim in the pool.

The school where I teach kindergarten is located on campus, I eat lunch purchased in the college's food court, I host student teachers in my classroom and I've been a guest speaker in their classes. Not only do I work on campus, I practically live on campus too.

In the winter when the leaves have fallen I can see the dorms located behind my house. Despite their close proximity we rarely hear any noise and if we do it's usually in early September when the students are just coming back or in May when they are getting ready to leave after a hard year at work. It doesn't really bother me, and in fact I sometimes get little pangs of envy! For the most part they are pretty well behaved but occasionally there is an exception. Thursday night was the exception. 

There was a function of some kind in one of the buildings behind my house. Police bull horns were barking out orders and I could hear crowd noises that were getting progressively louder as people were being moved up the street and closer to my house. I could hear sirens and then three fire trucks pulled into the parking lot. I could hear a distant fire alarm and just assumed someone had burned the microwave popcorn again.

Suddenly the voices changed. They were angry now and when my husband and I looked out the window there was a good 30 people in each others faces in the middle of the street. I didn't see any punches thrown, but things were escalating in the wrong direction and it was easy to see that things were going to get out of hand very quickly. Hubby picked up the phone and dialed 911 and was told officers were already on the way. 

My husband, who sometimes sees himself as the protector of the neighborhood, stood out on the front porch all official like, ready to defend his family and worldly possessions. He scared the crap out of me. This was not your typical college crowd. It was loud, and angry and it was easy to see that they weren't going to tolerate much from anyone. 

I pleaded with him to stay inside and let the police who were "already on the way", handle it. I didn't need to be a widowed mother of three!

Thankfully as soon as the policed showed up the crowd scattered both on foot and in cars.

This is the second time something like this has happened. Last year it resulted in a stabbing.

Wouldn't anyone with any kind of intelligence see that two consecutive years with problems at this event is enough to stop holding said event? 

Rarely am I scared by these things, but this was scary and it's not even Halloween yet!

First Day

There is something in the air this time of year. I can feel the buzz. I see the occasional school bus rumble by with drivers new and old rehearsing their routes. The newspaper is stuffed with circulars with deals to be had on supplies, new clothes and shockingly new white sneakers. The shelves are stocked with lunch boxes and back packs. The days are still warm, but the nights are cool now and the crickets have come alive with their late summery songs.

Back to school means something different to everyone. Those without a vested interest might think of it as busier roads and a harder commute in the morning with those big yellow busses with their red flashing lights in the way or too crowded aisles at the local Staples.

For kids it marks the end of running around barefoot and dirty grass stained feet that leave footprints in the bath tub. The end of staying up late and sleeping in, of playing in the waves and digging the biggest hole on the beach. It marks the beginning of homework, soccer practices, football games, and figuring out new schedules, report cards and meeting new friends. The beginning of getting out of bed to the sound of an alarm and eating their Frosted Flakes with their eyes half-shut.

I am a parent AND a teacher. 

The start of school holds so much promise for me but in different ways. As a parent I was never sad to see my boys start school. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I've always known they were where they were supposed to be. They were adorable walking into kindergarten for the first time, lunch box in hand and L.L. Bean on their backs. I was full of questions. Would they succeed? Will someone hug them if they cry? Will they make friends? Will they ever have to visit the principal's office or sit in the "thinking chair"? Will their teacher love them as much as I do? There was really no way to know the answer to those questions as I sent them off for their first real experience without me, but time does tell and I'm happy to say I can answer "yes" to all those questions. 

As they have grown older I don't worry so much of their school success because they have proven themselves as students, but the question now is what kind of people will they become? 

I have come to realize that school doesn't just teach kids academics it helps teach them how to be people. How to get along with others on the playground, how to share, how to take responsibility for their actions, how to be part of a larger community and hopefully to become life-long learners.

Being a parent has made me a better teacher. I understand how those mommies and daddies feel dropping their children off for the first time.  The building is bigger, there are more kids, and the expectations are higher. I try to greet those nervous parents with a reassuring smile, a comforting touch on the shoulder and even sometimes a hug and a tissue to wipe the tears. I want them to know that yes, I will hug their little boy when when he cries, and give a band-aid to her little girl when she scrapes her knee. 

When the school year begins and I look at those  scared little faces looking up at me from their spot in the circle I do my best not to let them see that I'm scared too. Will they like me?  How will I possibly teach them all they need to know? How to walk in a line, pack up a back pack, write their names, when it's okay to tattle...to read!!! But every year I take their little hands and lead them wherever they let me, wherever they need to go and wherever OUR learning will take us. It's just what I do, but mostly what I do is  love them as if they were my own, because for 9 months of the year that's exactly what they are.

Thank you to Starts with an X who gave me the idea for this blog post.

Y is for "You can't make this stuff up."

I'm constantly amazed at the things I see and hear as a teacher. Some that make me laugh out loud, some that cause me concern and some that simply just make me shake my head.
I heard one of those head shakers today. Fortunately it came from first grade and not from my kindergarten. I'm not sure I would have known what to do!
It was show and tell day, one of the little boys brought his grandfather to school. I can hear the collective "awwws". He brought his grandfather to school, in an urn. Yes, an urn, full of ashes. Grandpa has passed to the great beyond, to a more peaceful place, he has seen and followed the light, but yet here was back in first grade!
Now for the laugh out loud. I have a very endearing little boy in my class. He fancies himself a ladies man. He is having a Valentine's party next week to celebrate his favorite holiday. Here's our conversation...
Kinder Boy: Mrs. C I'm having a Valentine Party
Me: That's wonderful kinderboy, what a fun thing to do.
Kinder Boy: Yeah, I have so many girl friends I thought a party would be the best way to handle them.
Me: That sounds like a great plan.
Really, what was I going to say?
Now for the funny, but also cause for concern. I have a child in my class who has some obvious learning issues that will need to be addressed. I was putting her through some assessments the other day, one of which is to assess their ability to hear and use alliteration.
I gave her explicit directions on what I was looking for. I gave her more than one example of what I wanted her to do. (I'm not supposed to give any examples...so I was giving her an advantage here.)
Me: kindergirl, give me a word that starts like "dog"
KIndergirl: "RUFF"

You can't make this stuff up!

M is for money

...or lack thereof. 

Just before the contract vote, the city came out with the info that the school department's business manager messed around with the school budget and payed last year's bills with this year's money. Not only did he do that, but he underfunded some major line items. This all added up to a 4.9 million dollar deficit. That's a big chunk of change. 

Word came down that there would be major layoffs within a matter of weeks. This is not good news anytime, but especially mid-year. No child needs to lose their teacher right smack in the middle of the school year.

I will not have tenure until next September, so technically I was on the chopping block. We heard on a Monday that we would know by the following Friday who was being cut and who was safe. Tensions were high on Friday, I was literally sick to my stomach. I was feeling like my job was maybe okay, but it was that small level of uncertainty that just made me feel awful. Let's face it, even if it wasn't going to be me, it was going to be some of my friends.

Every time I heard the principal's heels coming down the hall my stomach would do that roller coaster flip-flop, I was sure she was coming for me, pink slip in hand. 

Thankfully when she did come for me, it was to tell me to relax, I was just fine and not going anywhere. I kept my emotions in check ( I'm not a public emoter) but I wanted to scream, yell, and engage in general merriment!

All in all our school got off lightly because of some very good foresight from our principal. We had an open federally funded position, so although she had to combine three classes into two, on of those teachers moved into the funded position, so we lost a class, but not a body. 

Other schools did not fare so well. In all, 29 teachers were cut from their respective schools, 70+ other personnel were also let go, that included specialist, support staff and custodians. 

It was not a good week for our public school system, but something happened to make me feel the proudest I have ever been to live in such a great city.