Overall impressions of Summer School? Very different. The settings, the students, and the teachers. Its a whole new world compared to what I grew up with.
To start, the classroom seems small and uncomfortable when you first arrive. The many desks, the tiny space, the one window with blinds you cannot really open, and lack of bookshelves, and storage space - it all seemed unbearable for someone planning to be there any long period of time. However, after only being there for a month, it occurred to me that I was an outsider being invited to live, short-term, in someone else's space. Of course the room was uncomfortable for me, because it was, in no real way, mine. I would be very curious to see what it looks like during the actual school year. In the course of four weeks I already had so many ideas for where I could hang student work, what posters I would want to bring in and where they would go, how I would save space with desk arrangements, what my reading area would look like, etc. Some of these tasks I was able to accomplish and it was AWESOME! Just a little bit of color and student work on the wall makes a huge difference, I think. In short, my discouraged additude coming into summer school - as far as the physical settings - was very diminished by te time I left. The short time that I spent in someone else's class gave me so much inspiration for the long time that I will be spending in my own.
The students, when I arrived at summer school, were also very daunting in some respects. All black, all failing math, and all from a southern culture. These were things, again, that I did not grow up with. Again, though, my fears and hesitations were quickly cast aside. Kids are kids - bottom line. Granted, some of these kids have lived through and experienced much more than I can relate to, and I completely respect them for that fact. But, they are kids, and they are students at school. The same way that many of the kids at my school didn't want to sit through class and listen to the teacher preach, is exactly what I thought I saw in most of these people. So, it was a struggle for me to connect with and find a common ground with alot of them - not because they're black and i'm white, not because they grew up in the South and I'm from a place where it snows 7 months of the year - mostly, because I was the teacher, and they were the students. I am the adult, and they are the children. Of course, I am not going to deny that race and upbringing are factors in how these kids view me. Most definitely they're factors. They're factors in how alot of people view me. But, the hardest hurdle, I felt, for me to jump, was letting them know that despite the fact I'm their teacher, and despite the fact I'm an adult, I care, and I'm gonna try my hardest to help them. What make this task even harder is that I spent my summers through college and high school working at kids camps, and at the camps, the kids and I were always freinds. It was OK to hug and tease and tickle and swear and start food fights, but here - as a teacher - I am expected to draw aline between myself and the students. I believe that it is a very appropriate line, but one that has never been established between me and another kid. So, not only was the adult in front of class someone that the students had to get used to, but someone I needed to get used to as well.
Last, but certainly not least, the teachers: beautiful, inspiring, and brilliant! Walking down the hallways while school was in session and peeking into the clssrooms, the teachers were always standing, talking, waving their arms, smiling, eating kids' lunches, what have you! They were all just so enthused all of the time! Even my schools were never like that! Maybe the enthusiasm will dwindle as the real school year goes on, but this summer, it was so wonderful and exciting to see so many young people who care about kids, and care about education, choosing to teach.
AWESOME!!!
