April 5, 2010

Under the condition of anonymity, a Trenton Public School teacher of 10 years shared thoughts on their job and teaching the children in our city. They have taught in the same school, a K through 8, their entire career, and are a product of the Trenton Public School system. They currently teach in the lower grades. First, a question I have asked many teachers since I began working as a substitute teacher two years ago: what do you like and dislike about teaching in a Trenton Public School? Their response was, in my opinion, very personal. That is a characteristic I found common among the teachers I consider very good at what they do. “Every day is something different,” the teacher responded. “You never know what you’re going to encounter. And that’s a good thing.” Many teachers are finding themselves way outside their formal job description at any point during the school day, parent being the most common pseudo title used. Unfortunately, many teachers frown on the idea of having to do something other than teach, wondering how a child can come to school in such a state of dysfunction due to their home environment, then expect a teacher to see that they absorb all that is required, then retain it. “I’m so many different things for my kids. Sometimes, I’m the social worker”, adds this teacher. “I want to be more than just a person who’ll teach your child how to read and write”.

I strongly agree with what the teacher described the biggest dislike, or challenge, as they termed it: Lack of parental involvement, the act, or inaction, of a parent physically participating in their boy or girl’s matriculation through school, from helping with homework to developing a relationship with teachers. This teacher recounted for me the Back to School Night at their school, for which they thoroughly prepared. “I had notes, and talking points written out. We had a syllabus for parents outlining the curriculum of each subject”, they said, expecting to be bombarded with questions from parents who would certainly want to know more about this person who “will be spending most of their waking hours with their child”. The teacher has 20 students. “Only five or six showed up”, said the teacher, sadly. What hurts this teacher, and so many others, most was the principle behind the parents’ absence. I immediately thought about Back to School Night at my five year-old’s school. For each of the 15 or so children in that class, there was a mom, dad (or both), grandparent, sitting in those little chairs or standing in the rear of the classroom, listening to the teacher discuss what she will teach our children, from spelling to math, and how she will implement it. Afterwards, each parent spoke one on one with her, allowing her to go deeper into her education and work resume, and teaching philosophy. Don’t all parents do that, especially at the beginning of their child’s educational experience? Many parents in Trenton, and cities like it, don’t. The Trenton Public School teacher can’t understand why so many parents in one town choose not to do the same, even with the outreach and prodding from parent liaisons employed by the District, whose task is to develop and maintain communication between teachers and parents. Each school has one. One such method to achieve that connection is the Parental Involvement Workshops, for parents with children in kindergarten through third grade. Another event, says the teacher, for which they “did research and really prepared”. Out of approximately 150 in grades K through third grade, only three parents attended. “I wasted my time” said the teacher, just like the Back to School Night, and all the parent-teacher conferences in between. Those scenes leave the teacher all but wondering if lack of parental involvement during this early stage in a child’s life is a precursor to what will happen in the later grades.

Has the teacher observed any improvement in their 10 years of teaching in the Trenton Public Schools? “I see attempts at making changes,” they said, “but they (the School District) don’t follow through.” Case in point, the pacing guide teachers have been using for the last few years. It is a curriculum template for every subject in each grade, to be implemented by each teacher. With students moving to from school to school as they do so frequently in Trenton, the guide keeps a student from getting lost scholastically if they change schools. Conceptually, the same math lesson a student is learning at their old school should be the same lesson being taught at their new school. When first implemented, “they kept up with it”, says the teacher. As time passed, though, the teacher says the guidelines were not monitored as closely. “Some follow it, others don’t.”

I asked the teacher about the School District’s budget woes, the State of New Jersey pulling more than $20 million earmarked for the city’s schools. The teacher was confident about personal job security, but very concerned about the cuts’ affect on how they will get the job done. “How much less supplies am I going to have? How much less do you want us to work with?” the teacher asks. It’s nothing for a teacher to go into their own pockets to see that students have the necessary tools to learn, or even for projects and extras like rewards for good work and behavior. They add, “I’m just going to have to SPEND MORE OF MY OWN MONEY. As for possible teacher layoffs, the logistics and previous experience, they feel, should make the District think twice about it. “When you’re cutting teachers, you are increasing class size.” the teacher notes. The 2009-2010 school year began with most kindergarten teacher in Trenton’s public schools trying to educate 20 students in a class, on average, without an aide. Imagine trying to teach that many five year-old students, some of whom are in a classroom for the first time, many desperate for attention, with no help. With that kind of student-teacher ratio, it is easy for a child to fall through the cracks when they are not able to keep up. The aides were brought back a few months into the year. If teachers and aides become budget casualties, the teacher acknowledges, “I am not going to be able to teach the child they way they should.”

Skip Harrison is an educator, freelance journalist, and parent, residing in Trenton, New Jersey.