I had a "Come to Jesus" chat with my corps members today. I understand that teaching is a new thing and there is a learning curve, but they handed in straight crap this morning. I spent the majority of my day reading these half finished lesson plans. I don't ever remember handing in anything less than my best work at Institute. Not even close, I gave it my best shot every time. My group was handing in entire sections missing or 1 practice problem or no assessment. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Many other CMAs are saying similar things about their corps members, so I don't feel bad that it's just mine, but still. We had a chat so that this is the last time I have to read such poor plans. These kids need great teachers and half-assed LPs are definitely not the way to close the achievement gap. It's also not fair that I need to stay up all hours of the night reading stuff that they didn't even try to do. I'll be very interested to see the difference in the LP that I read on Thursday. Fingers crossed that they get it together. Their deer in headlights look made me feel nervous that I was being too harsh, but their feedback at the end was that they appreciated that I brought it up now and was really direct about the situation and that I didn't sugarcoat it. A few corps members came afterward and apologized for not giving me their best work. That was nice to hear.
We also had our community night tonight at school. We invited students, their families, and community members to have a potluck dinner at school. Not many parents and students came, but the ones who did had a great time. Quin, a fifth grader, has a parent who works at our school. Apparently his mother stopped bathing him and taking care of him so one of the neighbors took him in. There is really no such thing as child services down here. Neglect is overlooked in the country. So, his guardian was there tonight and kept telling his teachers that they can try their best this summer, but Quin will be in jail before he graduates high school. Now, Quin is definitely not the easy kid. He struggles and raises hell in the classroom. But it's depressing that no one thinks he'll ever make something of himself. His parents abandoned him. He is not invested in finding a way out of crippling and unforgiving poverty.
I pray that these corps members can reach Quin before it's too late.
Many other CMAs are saying similar things about their corps members, so I don't feel bad that it's just mine, but still. We had a chat so that this is the last time I have to read such poor plans. These kids need great teachers and half-assed LPs are definitely not the way to close the achievement gap. It's also not fair that I need to stay up all hours of the night reading stuff that they didn't even try to do. I'll be very interested to see the difference in the LP that I read on Thursday. Fingers crossed that they get it together. Their deer in headlights look made me feel nervous that I was being too harsh, but their feedback at the end was that they appreciated that I brought it up now and was really direct about the situation and that I didn't sugarcoat it. A few corps members came afterward and apologized for not giving me their best work. That was nice to hear.
We also had our community night tonight at school. We invited students, their families, and community members to have a potluck dinner at school. Not many parents and students came, but the ones who did had a great time. Quin, a fifth grader, has a parent who works at our school. Apparently his mother stopped bathing him and taking care of him so one of the neighbors took him in. There is really no such thing as child services down here. Neglect is overlooked in the country. So, his guardian was there tonight and kept telling his teachers that they can try their best this summer, but Quin will be in jail before he graduates high school. Now, Quin is definitely not the easy kid. He struggles and raises hell in the classroom. But it's depressing that no one thinks he'll ever make something of himself. His parents abandoned him. He is not invested in finding a way out of crippling and unforgiving poverty.
I pray that these corps members can reach Quin before it's too late.
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