As a person who usually does extremely well with transitiong, the past two weeks have been hard. Really hard. I had about two days between returning from Guatemala and starting my new student teaching placement at Kelly High School--the largest and most overcrowded Chicago Public School. Picture this: 3600 students with capacity for about 2600; 40 students/class with adds about every week. Not the most beneficial learning environment.
Beyond the size of the school, the culture of it was a bit of a shock as well. To sum it up, the majority of the students just don't care. Attendance is spotty and investment in learning is fairly non existant (with the exception of my one honors class). Nearly 50% of my academic students (aka not honors) are failing because they just don't come to class or do work. The apathy stems from many sources: a lot of kids have no desire or ambition for college, so why does high school matter? some work nearly 40 hours to support their immigrant families; some kids are so deeply imbedded in gang life that school takes a far second to survival.
I was giving a kid a hard time about not using class time for homework. Another kid said, "but Miss Witte, it's better for me to have homework. It will keep me off the streets." Wow. That should not be the life of a 15 year-old. And, this comes after a Tuesday gang fight in the halls and a Wednesday retaliation fight. My response: "I can load the homework on if it will keep you off the streets; let me know what you need!" It turns out that his original work was a little sketchy so he still had some work...but that is his daily reality: find an excuse to stay off the streets.
It's overwhelmingly hard to teach in that environment, but I do know that the need is SO GREAT. It's hard to keep giving when there is no response though. We had a reading at church on Sunday that really gave me a gut/perspective check. One part of it said:
Because confusion can reign inside us, despite our faith; because anger, tension, bitterness and envy distort our vision; because our minds sometimes worry small things out of all proportion; because we do not always get it right, we want to believe:
Goodness is stronger than evil
Love is stronger than hate
Light is stronger than darkness
Truth is stronger than lies.
No matter how hard it is to go into this school every day, I have to believe that the goodness, grace, and truth of Jesus Christ in me will make a difference--even if only in the life of one or two students.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
From GUATE to GANGS
Posted by travelingtroll at 4:59 PM
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5 comments:
Hang in there, Annette
You do make a difference. Raising awareness so others can pray for you and the school(s) is a start in that direction. Keep up the tough good work. No one ever said it would be easy.
Love Dad
I hope your Puritain Prayer book works out well. I started reading the book you let me borrow this morining. I'm only about 2 pages in, but so far so good.
Here's a blast from the past, Ben Holst still checks with your dad to know what you're up to. I think it's awesome that you're teaching where you are. The stories you'll have when you're done will be inspiring to others. Ben Holst
You may not see it, but you have made a difference in the life of the one boy who wants homework just so he can stay off the street. You have shown that you care.
I am learning more and more that it may take years before we ever see or know the positive influence we have on our students. As a teacher and disciple of Christ you are planting seeds in the lives of these kids.
Keep up the good work.
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