Teaching Snapshot

As I continue to be inspired by this writing project, I have dug up a few scraps of scribbling from the recent past. This is something I wrote a few weeks ago. I wish I had sent it in to the press!

A Day in the Life of an Ontario Secondary School Teacher

This morning was amazing – the kind of class a teacher might dream about for a good part of a career. My 12^th grade Writer’s Craft class presented their final project for the course. Their task was to deliver a speech or in any other way share their growth and development as a writer or person over the course of our time together.

The comments were astonishing. Not only did the students speak powerfully, clearly, and in well-rehearsed, thoroughly prepared ways, but they were insightful, honest, open, and generous. Over and over they acknowledged their peers and indirectly and directly thanked them for contributing to their success. I was also acknowledged, and it was wonderfully satisfying. The students did as they were asked and reflected thoroughly on the course and recalled moments and memories of transformation and growth and then shared them in compelling ways. That they grew so much and could see it in each other and themselves was wonderful. That was the first 75 minutes of my day.

Second period was also an intense seventy-five minutes. Ninth grade students were presenting a novel study and making connections between what they had read to other texts or experiences they had experienced or consumed. This was their first high school project of such significance, so there was a lot of nervousness and the stakes were high. They delivered, however, and generally did a good job. The next group to present on Monday was directed to how they could best prepare, and it was an important learning opportunity for everyone.

Over my lunch period I read the latest coverage of our current labour dispute and processed the frustration over the resignation of Chris Spence. In the face of the attacks on teachers these days, it is painful to have the Director of Education of the largest school board in the country – Toronto – have to resign over serial plagiarism. In conversation with colleagues we discussed the issues we face in helping students avoid this mistake and how at least we now had a current celebrity to help our student understand a tragic hero’s fall from grace as explored in Macbeth…

At the end of lunch as I copied rubrics and organized marking I found myself in further conversation about timetable changes and learned of unreasonable and resistant leadership. A department head is refusing to allow a colleague to switch a class with me next semester for no apparent reason and as that frustration was shared other concerns arose. I am now considering moving myself physically from one office to another so as to avoid the stress and conflict in my current department and have to confront how difficult it has become. I am suffering the consequences of a broken leadership recruitment and mentorship process and it is discouraging. My professional learning and growth is being stunted by a lack of vision and inter-personal skills, and I risk offending colleagues if I leave them for a different working space. I have difficult choices to make.

During my preparation period I marked and then counseled a student through her self-harming behaviours and offered  suggestions to help her succeed. She is not in immediate danger of committing suicide, but it is a concern I have to deal with. I emailed her guidance counselor, forwarded relevant details about a course that may be of value, and provided what comfort and support I could. All I can do now is hope that my actions were sufficient.

Just before my last class, a colleague came in with coffee for me, much later than expected, since she had been on the errand for an unusually long length of time. She appeared shaken and distressed. She explained that she had just broken up a knife fight on her way back from the coffee shop. The weapons were drawn, the assault was in progress, and she had to run through it to enter the building and get help from administration. Thankfully no one was hurt.

And then it was time to address my fifth period class. Yesterday there was a great deal of disappointment when many students failed to submit their final projects. It is that time of year at the end of the semester and I had honestly been expecting some great work. It turns out that a lot of great work was done, but the list of incompletes yesterday left me disillusioned and despairing. Today took a lot of energy to focus on the positive and to try to recover from the previous class. I did it and the victories were shared and we moved on.

After school when I went to check on my colleague who had intervened in the knife fight, I learned some deeply disturbing news. One of the assailants is the foster brother of a another assailant in the school. It turns out that this episode of violence shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The administration had been warned about the potentially explosive situation this student was in when his brother discovered his string of petty crimes was going to land him in jail. His law class taught him enough to realize that he was actually going to be incarcerated and he shared this insight with his law teacher. The teacher recognized in the student his take on it and advised the vice principal that the young man saw himself in a position of having nothing left to lose – he had a week before his court date, a week left of freedom, and he was a potential threat. The warning was ignored. Two girls were sexually assaulted by the student at school in the washroom in that final week.

On the drive home I had to listen to the premier of the province claim that teachers are naturally inclined to volunteer their unpaid and unappreciated time for extra-curricular activities, which infuriated me. I, nor anyone else, is ever inclined to be taken advantage of. It was offensive.

And now I am home, with marking to do and a headache, and a lot of questions still running through my mind. Firstly, if the public really knew what my days were like – and of course not all of them are this demanding or emotionally fraught – would they still think so poorly of myself and my profession? Why is the privacy of a student more important than the safety of others? Those young women and my colleague were unnecessarily endangered because none of us knew we had a violent offender in our midst. The ones who knew failed to act to protect us. And why is good leadership so hard to find? People want to be great, and there are many great people. When did education become such a dead-end than no one of excellence pursues it anymore? Chris Spence’s fall further illustrates the crisis in leadership we face.