First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of school at Boston Renaissance. I started out the day in the cafeteria where I am supposed to greet kids- addressing, by creating a warm environment, the attendance issue that many underperforming schools have. By 8:05 everyone is in the classrooms. I spent -and will spend until June- each day in the 6th grade classroom with 2 co-teachers, Mr. Cobble and Ms. Kennedy (pseudonyms), who teach english and social studies to two 6th grade classes. Both teachers are new to the school, to Boston, to City Year, and to each other. I found watching the teachers progress, often as a fly on the wall, very interesting. It is so easy to identify things I would change in their approach, which is probably why many teachers dislike having other adults in the room. Ms. Kennedy informed me yesterday that she had never had one other adult in the room let alone two. She didn't seem overjoyed at the prospect.

There are going to be many knots to work out among us. Happily, both teachers tried to find a place for me in the flow of chaos. They are not teaching subjects now, but instead are introducing the students to rules and expectations through a variety of activities. There was a lot of work for the students to do independently (a euphemism for silently)and I consequently spent most of the day wandering about the classroom trying to find ways to be helpful. I struggled to contain my assistance to merely answering questions, because inevitably there would be some conversational exchange during the "silent work period". One student was clearly not working on the time line of his life (4 main events), so I thought I would go over and give him a little incentive. He had only filled out 1 of the 4 squares, so I started asking him what he was thinking he'd do for the 2nd. He didn't know. I suggested enthusiastically the first day he went to school and to add a little pomp I gave my own description: walking into school with your uniform, backpack, and lunch box- smiley and excited. He didn't go to this school and didn't wear a uniform. This prompted a conversation with his neighbor and he was lost to me.

There is one kid in the class, Lamont, that has already been singled out as one of the students I will be focusing on this year. Lamont reminds me of flubber (Flubber, 1997, starring Robin Williams). He is up and down, this way and that- I have never seen one kid create such an impression of movement within a 2 ft by 2 ft area. Needless to say at recess he was tapping the rebound away from his jumping classmates that had a one foot advantage over him and like the road runner he would zoom around them to ensure that he got the tap himself. Although he's a basically good kid, his energy is a source of major distraction for his classmates let alone himself, so I have been working with him whenever he is supposed to be doing work independently. I've been talking with him about football and his aspirations in that field. It's been excellent, because I am able to keep him on task and he is able to let off steam. I think our group in the corner is going to grow over the course of the year, and I feel that I can be a real help playing this part.