The Square Peg

The Square Peg

By Jill Jenkins

          Imagine being in high school, the most socially and emotionally charged period in a person’s life, and all of the other students talk to other students around you, but no one talks to you.  You hear about parties, but you are never invited.  In fact, you are similar to the girl in Janis Ian’s classic hit, “At Seventeen:” 

               “To those of us who knew the pain

                Of valentines that never came

                And those whose names were never called

                When choosing sides for basketball

                 It was long ago and far away

                 the world was younger than today

                when dreams were all they gave for free

                  to ugly duckling girls like me...”

 

Teenagers accept only those that fit their perception of the perfect teenage image.  You are the square peg.  You feel loneliness and you wonder if there is something wrong with you because you are different from the others.  Maybe you are different because you have a different religion, a different race, a different skin color, or even a different sexual preference.  Maybe you are different because you aren’t pretty, you aren’t thin, and you can’t afford designer clothing.  Because you are square peg in many schools, you are shunned. Now, you have a good idea of what a child feels when he/she is the victim of bullying.  Isolation is another form of bullying. 

            As a teacher it is sometimes easy to spot the child who verbally abuses other students.  As a teacher, it is sometimes easy to spot the child who physically abuses other students, but as a teacher it is harder to identify students who use the psychological abuse of shunning or isolation to abuse their victims.  Those who abuse others in this way  often  continue to abuse their co-workers by making decisions behind their backs and leaving them out of the loop of communication, ignoring their co-worker and talking behind their co-workers back.  Likewise, these are tactics often used by female students to bully another student. I have seen students who eat every day in the counseling office because they don't want to face the embarrassment of eating alone.  Some schools have made it a policy that no student eat lunch alone, but aren't there still those who are alone even in a forced social situation? Social media and the internet create even a larger arena for these bullies to thrive.   The results of this abuse can be devastating to an insecure teenager.  

            Research actually indicates that students who bully often come from home where they are bullied by a parent and their victims are often students with low self-esteem.  In my own family, my father used to taunt and tease us.  He had belittling names for each of us identifying whatever weakness he perceived.  He believed that this behavior made us more resilient to others.  He wanted to toughen us up. My father’s taunting was imitated by my brothers who called me “Pizza Face” because I had acne, “Thunder Thighs” because my legs were not thin, and often smacked my elbow as I ate pie so they could be amused as pie smashed up my nose.  Belittling children does not make them more resilient.  It destroys their self-image.  A child with a strong self-image does not feel the need to taunt and tease others who are weaker and they rarely become the victims of bullying because their healthy self-image makes them a more difficult target for would be aggressors.  In fact, children who are belittled and bullied by a parent often bully other students at school or bully their own children when they grow up. 

            Stopping the cycle of bullying, means we need to educate both parents and children.  Changing both the parents’ and child’s attitude toward bullying and helping to identify what behavior is harmful to others will help stop this behavior at schools.  Knowledge is power.  Not only knowing what behavior is inappropriate and harmful, but getting to know the square pegs is another way to build bridges.  As long as the other person is some unknown stereotype (oh, those Goth students) they will bully them, but getting to know each child as an individual is one way of stopping bullying.  Group work where students do not just select their own friends, but are placed in groups with students who are different from them helps students gain skills in working with all types of people, but it also helps them recognize the similarities between them and those that they perceive as differ.

            Bullying like child abuse is not an easy problem to stop, but as a teacher you need to create an atmosphere of caring, where students feel like they are all members of a community.  You need to identify all types of bullying: physical, verbal and psychological and never tolerate it in your classroom.  Act to educate students and parents about the effects of even social isolation.  Let’s give the square pegs a chance to fit in.

Cover Your Behind

Cover Your Behind

            The headlines have been filled with the story of Michael Brown and the officer Darren Wilson who shot this unarmed teenager.  The streets have filled with angry protestors all demanding the arrest of Darren Wilson. What really happened that day?   Being a police officer is a dangerous job and everything that you choose to do is judged and observed by everyone in the community and the country.  Being a teacher is no less scrutinized. As a teacher, you must take every precaution to “cover behind” and protect yourself from possible litigation.  How do you do that?

            Many sources have said that Officer Darren Wilson would have been safer if he had been wearing a camera that could have recorded everything that transpired that night, but he was not wearing a camera, so he only has his testimony against the testimony of anyone else witnessed the events.  Many teachers complain about cameras in hallways, but to be perfectly honest, every classroom had a camera or every teacher wore a camera on his/her person, the teacher would have hard evidence if a situation arose that teacher’s conduct was in question. When I began my teaching career, a more experienced teacher advised me to never be alone in a room with a student without the door open.  However, the fear of armed intruders has had administrators advising teachers to keep their doors closed at all times.  How do teachers protector themselves against a student who might wrongfully accuse them of inappropriate action?

            In a recent court case in Albany, California, chemistry teacher Peggy Carlock and Albany High School are being sued because Bowen Bethards, 17, and his mother, Laureen are unhappy with the C+ her son received.  Laureen contends the teacher, Peggy Carlock bullied her son. According to the parent, the student had 106% of the possible points at the beginning of the quarter when the student was assigned to participate in a lab.  The parent took the student to court to his brother’s adoption hearing, on the day of the lab.  The teacher offered the student to make-up the lab, but on the day the student came in to make up the lab, the teacher was absent.  The teacher gave the student a second opportunity to make up the lab by correcting the other student’s lab reports, but the parent claims the teacher did not give the student a rubric so he was unable to do complete the task.  Finally the student failed the final exam and the teacher refused to allow the student to retake the test.  The parent felt this was unfair, because her son will have a difficult time getting into the college of his choice because of his grade.  The school offered to change his grade to a “B” excusing him from the lab, but refused to allow him to retake the test because that would not be fair to other students.  The parent wanted the “A” grade so she sued. 

            This is a difficult situation, but if the teacher clearly states that students will not be allowed to retakes exams in her open disclosure and the clearly states how labs are to made up, perhaps the parent might not have sued.  On the other hand, one could argue the student was given two opportunities to make up the lab.  Furthermore, why did the student need to go to court with his mother?  The legal situation did not even concern him, so why was he absent when he was aware that there was an important lab in his chemistry class that day; however, when a student are absent he/she still needs an opportunity to make up the missing work. The teacher gave him that opportunity.  If the teacher was sick on the particular day the boy chose to make it up, perhaps he could have set up another date. Furthermore, the teacher gave him an alternative activity, an opportunity to grade the other students’ lab reports (most of us may question the validity of that particular method of making up a lab), but his still did not complete it.  Finally, most of us would argue that he took the final exam and failed, he really should not even pass the class, because he has not learned the material.  The teacher and the school are being generous with the student. Is this parent being unreasonable?

            Maybe, but this is why it is important to document every phone call that you make to a parent with pertinent information of what was discussed.  Document every correction you make to a student whether it is moving his seat, taking him into the hall and chatting with him, or having a parent-teacher conference.  You may never need your notes, but if a situation arises and the administration in your building ask how you had been helping a student, you have a document filled with facts that may help them or if the parents bring in a lawyer (this rarely happens, but if it does you need to be ready) you have clear concise information about all of your interactions with the student and the parent.

             In another instance according to National Public Radio, a West Virginia Parent sued a teacher because her student did not receive credit for a project she turned in late, thus causing her to get a “B” for the course instead of an “A.” The teacher had told the student that this project could not be turned in late, but this particular student went on a school excused activity on the due date and submitted it one day later.  The teacher documented that she had told the students they could turn it in early, but it would not be accepted late.  The student needed to understand that the rule applied to her.  The parents felt that the teacher did not have the authority to make such a rule, because the district policy clearly stated that when a student was absent they had an equal number of days to complete the missing work.  As teachers we all know that the end of the quarter eventually comes and teachers have deadlines to complete their grades as well, so by the end of the quarter it is not unreasonable to expect an absolute cut-off for some work. It might be wise to put information that a particular project cannot be submitted late on your webpage, on the paper with instructions about the project and/or in an email to the parents and students.  The more proof you have that you communicated this information to both the parents and student the better chance you have of not being sued.

            One mistake or perceived mistake can destroy a teacher’s career and financial situation.  When I began teaching, a student put an incendiary device into a commode in the boys’ restroom.  The device blew up shattering the toilet and flooding the restroom.  As the culprit left the restroom, a teacher grabbed the young man and pushed him against the wall, holding him until the administration arrived.  The parents sued the teacher who was not a member of the teaching association and had no insurance to cover such law suit.  The district did not back the teacher as it is a standard rule in that school that teachers cannot touch students.  The teacher not only lost his job, but because the parents sued him personally, he lost his house, his retirement savings and ended in bankruptcy.  It is not a bad idea to make sure you have insurance either through a teaching association or that you purchase on your own.  You can never be too cautious.

            Some people will tell you that as a teacher, you need to keep the children safe, act prudently in any situation and follow the behavior guidelines of the school district.  That is all true, but I think you need to make sure that you document everything.  That you publish all of your rules and procedures both on your web-page and through letters or emails and save copies.  Make sure you have records of interactions with parents and students.  I keep all of my students’ assignments until the end of the quarter both in the students’ portfolios and in baskets.  If a student or a parent accuses me of losing their son/daughter’s assignments, I welcome them to go through both the baskets and the portfolio’s to find them.  Most of the time, the students finds a “no name” paper, claims it is his and the argument ends.

            When does a teacher have time for all of this, if you create a log on your computer that you update at the end of each day, it will become a valuable resource in the event you are ever accused of not helping a child, or if the administration is looking for documentation to enroll a non-performing student in a special education program.  More importantly, you will be protecting yourself.  In the event a parent ever suggests that they will be talking to their attorney.  You should no longer speak to that parent.  All communication needs to go through the administration or the school districts’ attorney.  This is when your detailed notes on your interaction with this student will be invaluable to both the attorney and the administration.  Don’t worry too much.  In forty years of teaching, I was never sued.  Some may have threatened it, but it never happened.  The truth is it only takes one unjust accusation to destroy your career, so please cover your behind.

Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap

By Jill Jenkins

            During my last year of teaching before I retired, it was my pleasure to work with one of my most competent colleague to prepare our school’s accreditation.  Our research brought some enlightening data about the students who fall through the achievement gap.  Using data from both the Scholastic Reading Inventory Test, and the STAR test, we learned that one third of our student body read one or more years above grade level, one third read on grade level and one third were one or more years below grade level.  Only a small percentage of our students did not score proficient on the state C. R. T. (Criterion Reference Test)  test with about 80% scoring in the C.C.R. range (which I thought was Credence Clearwater Revival, but apparently it means far above proficient). In fact, our school out-performed almost every school in our district and every middle school in our state.  So, what about that two percent who did not pass their end of the year test?  Our principal decided we should focus all of our efforts on the two percent who fell through the gap.  He wanted us to mind the gap.   Our first question was: what contributed to their poor performance?  Our research gave us more answers.  We found there were three categories of poor performers: first, were the students who had been absent more than 10 days or 25% of any quarter; second, there were the students who did not speak English as their native tongue and were not yet proficient with the language, the English Language Learners; and third, there were the special education students some of who were mainstreamed and others who were enrolled in one of our two cluster units or in our resource program.   How to we help these small groups without losing the growth of 98% of our student-body?

            How do we improve the attendance of our not often here students?  In the old days, schools could just send a truant officer to the absent student’s home and retrieve him, but with some many students home-schooled, truant officers are a thing of the past.  The administrators could prosecute the parents of most blatant non-attenders, but they did not seem happy to do that. (It seems there is a lot of paperwork connected with any court case.)  Somehow we need to communicate to these parents that their children need to be in school every day if they expect to do well.  We need to communicate to those students that their education should be important to them, so they should insist on going to school every day.  Some schools have used rewards system.  One principal identifies those students and has them come to his office every morning and tell him good morning.  Sometimes there are a surprise candy bar and other times just a warm greeting.  Another principal identifies these students, meets with them regularly and if they improved their attendance, he takes them to lunch every two weeks: Lunch with the principal, what middle school student could pass on a deal like that? This might work in a school where less than one percent fall into that category, but in most inner-city school the problem of attendance is more difficult to solve.

            What about the students just learning English?  In my school all of these students are mainstreamed into the regular classes and only a few of them receive extra help from a study skills teacher.  Granted, all of these students could be counted on one and half hands, but still they are a subgroup.   For example, I had one student who was a refuge from a tribal group in Africa.  The counseling staff did not know from which country he was from or which language he spoke, only that he did not speak or write English. I am not trained as an ESL teacher.  I contacted the district office to ask if they had some materials I could use to help him.  They couldn’t help me because his foster parents had not indicated on their paperwork that he required language services.  I used my own money to buy material and at the suggestion of another teacher purchased some applications for my I-Pad to help him build a small vocabulary.  When the rest of the class read Treasure Island, he worked on my I-Pad at his desk.  Social Services moved him to a new foster home before we took the C.R.T. test.  He could write his name and he knew his alphabet and probably 100 words in English, but he was not ready to take his exam.  Teachers need the support of the school, the district, and the administrators if they have any hope of improving the education of students who are learning English.  Teachers need training, materials and class time to work one-on-one with these students.   

            What about the students in special education?  In our school we have two clusters: High Functioning Autism and Life Skills Cluster and three resource teachers.  Students in the Life Skills Cluster remain with their teacher for most of their academic classes, but may take one or two electives.  The students in High Functioning Autism are sometimes mainstreamed.  Many students who qualify for resource are mainstreamed and some only take one class with a resource teacher and are mainstreamed for the rest of the day.  The resource teachers and High Functioning Autism teacher offer support and advice to the rest of the faculty.  For most of these students concentrating long enough to complete a C.R.T. exam is difficult.  For many of them acquiring the skills to pass a state exam is problematic.

            The truth is all three of these groups do not do well on state exams for obvious reasons. Now, there is the Common Core Curriculum with a more rigorous S.A.G.E. test.  Students who did well on the C.R.T. tests are expected to do poorly on the new test.   At my school, we are preparing for the more rigorous test with a new program where for twenty-five minute twice a week students who had not mastered a specific learning goal in a class are retaught that particular skill again. This means that fifty minutes a week 98% of the student-body do enhancement or meaningless activities while the two percent relearned a specific learning goal.  That means 500 minutes of instruction time is lost each quarter to 98% of the students. Another words, teachers have a more rigorous curriculum to teach, but will be losing thirty-three hours and twenty minutes of instruction time per year to re-teach the skills for two percent of the population, half of whom are absent. Nonetheless, if the school spends all of its resources to help this two percent, they may be forsaking the 98%.  Wasting 500 minutes of valuable instructional time per quarter is counter-productive. Boring students with meaningless activities diminishes their desire to learn more and usually results in them entertaining themselves in inappropriate ways.  

            The reason “No Child Left Behind” worked well in theory but not in the real world, is there are students we can improve, but not all of them may become proficient in a single year.  English Language Learners way take up to ten years to become proficient in a foreign language; special education students learn at different rate than students without learning disabilities.   We do need to improve the attendance of the non-attender; we do need to find more effective ways to meet the needs of the English Language Learners and the special education students; however, the truth is we may not be effective with every student. A better approach to solving the problems left in the learning gap is to look at the data from the new S.A.G.E. test when it becomes available (September or October), and improve instruction on the skills that students had difficulty with. Ask the right questions: why did they performing poorly and why is this student missing so much school?  Perhaps it is a problem that is easy to fix. Don’t forget to mind the gap.