More Coffee, Please

It’s always an amazing thing, getting back to school from the summer break.¹

Walking through the front doors of the high school, it becomes immediately clear how much the building and grounds, maintenance, and full-year staff do. The roof might still be crawling with men trying to finish before the school year starts, but Mr. Mitchell and his crew were amazing in managing a host of difficult tasks and getting most of them accomplished.

Still, the first days are normally about people. There’s a joy in coming back, (though sitting in the cafeteria and seeing who was new and who was missing was depressing.) There’s a joy in new faces—a great deal of promise, a great deal of potential—but there’s also so much sorrow. It’s one thing when someone leaves because they reached the end of their career, and quite another when they leave so they could feed their families.

Still, usually seeing familiar faces and responding to words of greetings or encouragement (Thanks to all, and yes, I know that the blog was a long time in-between updates. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. :)) is the highlight of the day. That didn’t happen this year.

This time, for the first time I can recall, I was captivated by the plan laid out for the high school.

Teaching is often about conscience, about the individual sense of right and wrong, about what should be done that’s best for another human. What do we teach? Why is this important enough to focus our attention on it? What is right to do in these circumstances?

One of the largest arguments I had with the system at MRHS (never the people, always the system, the “passed down for generations we do it because” system) was it required so many sacrifices of conscience. It was hard working every day in a place which forced one to either go against the rules set in place, or violate one’s sense of right and wrong.

Again, this was not because anyone there was evil, was wrong, was anything bad. I firmly believe that each individual I’ve worked with at MRHS—in the whole district—had the best wishes of the child at heart. The problem is, quite often, a misunderstanding of what the child really needs, and that often comes from a misalignment of the system.

Schools should be student centered. Everything done should be done because it leads to greater understanding and learning for the individual. This is often lost in the business of education—the need to make a schedule which works, the need to get child “a” to room “b” or make sure everyone gets on the bus on time. However, it’s also often lost in the individual classroom, where a child is failed not because of not understanding the material but because it was handed in late.² Designing a school around student needs, and making sure it was student learning centered, was the primary reason driving me to MC². The prospect of teaching in a place where student needs were put first, where the day would not require a sacrifice in conscience, was irresistible.

So in looking over the changes to MRHS policies this year, I’m pleasantly stunned—and highly impressed with my fellow teachers. I know that these changes were put in place by a committee of department chairs and administration, the “old guard” and, by rights, the most conservative individuals in the building.

And, in every case I can see, they got it exactly right.

I’ve made no bones about my disgust with the food policy at MRHS, and my room, like many others, was a place where a surreptitiously snuck cup of coffee would not earn a rebuke. It’s nice to hear that MRHS will now follow that policy, allowing teacher discretion for the classroom. Kids needs to be fed, need to be watered, in order to grow.

No passes for the water fountain or bathroom. Ding! Dozens of hours gained back in the day from writing hall passes.

Kids can go to their lockers after school. Kids can go to their lockers before school. No longer corralled like monkeys in the cafeteria, I have high hopes they’ll act like humans in the halls.

Oh… I won’t even touch the hat rule. Take it off for the pledge? More than good enough for me.

In one meeting, most of the rules which I systematically ignored, broke, or got around³ at MRHS were swept away.

What a vision. What a great deal of courage—to make the distinction between holding students accountable for poor behavior and breaking the rules. They’re not the same!

There’s more to be done, of course. I look forward to seeing more humane classrooms, more integration of subjects, more support for children in trouble, more support for children doing well to help them reach even higher marks. It suddenly seems possible.

I’m a a husky, born and bred. I’ll happily bark when they do well. It might only be the first day, it might be too soon, but there’s a spirit in the air I like—from the willingness to build bridges with us over at MC², to the willingness to engage in new types of learning, to engage students more actively and less passively (Yeah, Doug, I’m thinking of you and your course idea…brilliant!)

It has the makings of what could be a very good year. Now all we need is a contract.

1 Of course, I, like dozens of other teachers who will never be compensated for their time or energy—nor do they expect to be—was actually back last week. The idea that teachers don’t work during the summer may be true for some, but not the ones I know. Running around the district were hundreds of teachers painting their rooms, arranging furniture, and getting things ready for their students weeks before they “needed” to. For many, teaching is not a career but rather a calling, and they demonstrate it in countless ways that are rarely seen. ↺

2 The reason given in these circumstances is often superficially correct. “‘So and so’” needs to learn to hand work in on time.” Very true. However, first and foremost they need to learn the material, and that has little to do with due dates. If we’re going to teach how to turn assignments in on time, then let’s be intentional about that, and teach the skills needed to be organized. ↺

3 You’ll notice I left out “and got reprimanded for not following” here… ↺

4 Insert Text Here ↺

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Education, Monadnock Community Connections School, School Change

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