"Good Morning Everyone. My name is Katy Hayes and I'm a student at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I'm going to be in class with you all every Monday to help out and watch your lessons. If any of you ever have any questions please feel free to ask. That's why I'm here, to help you guys when you need it."a hand shoots up from the back row.
"Yes, go ahead, do you already have a question?""What is your major in college?""Well, I study International Studies, Spanish, and Education Policy."As I looked at the faces of the 22 seventh graders of the 1st period language arts class, I knew that 95% of them were native Spanish speakers. Their faces said- who is this girl and why is she in our class at 8am on a Monday morning.
"Buenos Dias a todos. Me llamo Katy Hayes y asisto a la Universidad de Wisconsin Madison. Quizas me vieron la semana pasada en su clase. Voy a estar en clase con ustedes cada lunes para ayudarles con cualquier cosa. Si tienen preguntas, preguntame- no sean timidos, por que estoy aqui para ayudarles. Gracias. "The boy who asked the question smiled. A girl with pigtails and braces in the front row covered her face and started giggling. I glanced at the teacher to my left who was staring at the ground with a hint of a smile on her face. A couple mouths dropped as I made a slight nod to the students and made my way through the desks to the back of the class where I took my seat to wait for today's lesson to begin.
Last week in one of my Ed Policy classes, we began looking at 'tracking' and how it is taking place in schools today, specifically looking at the studies of Jeannie Oaks in her book
Keeping Track. The book is pretty shocking, as it describes the drastic differences between high track and low track classrooms.
One chapter in the book looks at surveys she did across schools, across districts, across states, across grade levels- asking students what is the most important thing you learned this year. High Tracked students gave answers like...
think critically, problem solve, structure the main ideas and find supporting arguments, how to write structured essays, how to solve problems in more than one way, how to think analytically. Low Track students answers on the other hand were very different....
How to apply for a job, how to behave, how to listen, how to respect authority, how to do my taxes, how to be quiet, how to interview for a job, nothing...There are pages and pages of responses like this. There are also responses from teachers. The responses are very similar. High Track teacher's number one goals are set high and low track teachers just want to make sure their room is in order, the kids know how to be clean (
i'm not kidding), and that they know how to apply for jobs and fill out tax forms.
Friday afternoon I wrote a paper about the phenomenon of teaching kids who start ahead how to stay ahead and teaching kids who start behind how to stay there.
Ten minutes before I introduced myself this morning, I spoke with the teacher about her class a bit. She explained to me how these students were 98% Spanish speakers and that there is more than enough for me to keep busy with. I asked her about what they have been working on lately and what today's lesson would be focused on.
Nostalgic thoughts of my seventh grade class room, reading The Outsiders and doing an 8 Parts of Speech Project was quickly pushed out of my head when she responded saying they have mainly been working on social skills for the past couple of weeks. She went on to explain how most of these kids don't have role models in their lives and therefore don't know how to act or interact with others appropriately. So mainly they have been working on sitting still, talking in the right tone, raising hands, and things of that nature.
My stomach began to flip flop. This is not really happening is it? I'm 10 minutes down Fish Hatchery road from the best University in Wisconsin. This seventh grade class of bright students has not been working on sitting still for 2 weeks have they? The Oaks book popped into my head as I nodded to the words coming out of the teacher's mouth.
...and that is why today will do an activity of job interviewing...My throat got tight and I concentrated on my nodding and how my eyebrows were making the expression on my face look. I concentrated hard to look attentive and respectful.
When the lesson began, the teacher introduced the activity with a speech about the importance of social skills in order to get a good job and succeed in life. She prefaced how they have been working hard on these social skills the past few weeks and now would put them into action in a real life scenario.
She told the kids that they would be interviewing for a job at
McDonalds.
I closed my eyes for a seconds and clenched my teeth.
The class then began a brain storm of all of the things necessary to succeed at a a job at
McDonalds.
Respectful, Polite, Smart, Hard Working, Lots of available time to work a lot, Good Listener....The teacher began to question the students to get specific answers she was thinking of.
Do you guys have some days you look good and some days you look bad? I do, but for an interview how do you want to look? A boy raised his hand and said he'd want to wear a suit to a job interview. The teacher frowned and said, told him you don't need to wear a suit to a job interview at
McDonalds. What you need she went on, is to be
clean~
She wrote
clean on the board.
A girl near me said, well duh.
we are always clean, - you don't need to be on a job interview to know that.
There was a little chatter of ideas being thrown on of other attributes you would want to have- a boy who hadn't said much yet said- I'd be the Manager.The teacher called him out and said Arrogance is not a good quality and won't get you any job.
The lesson continued on with each person stating out loud one good quality they have to work at
McDonalds. One student said it would be hard to work and go to college at the same time after high school. The teacher told him that college isn't for everyone, and some people are much better at working...
My heart ached.
This was one day. In a 'good charter school' in Madison,
Wi. What is happening here. If this is happening here on this one Monday Morning, what has happened the whole year? What happens every year for these kids? What are they learning? Do they know how to to structure an essay? They would need to know how to do that to take any college 'track' level course in high school. Do they know the parts of speech? Can they pick out main ideas? Cause and Effect?....will these kids go to college?
What are we teaching these 22 seventh graders?
the lesson continued on and I was left sitting at a 7
th grade desk, in the back of a Language Arts classroom; alone- concentrating on my eyebrows and making the sad look in my eyes appear not so sad.
