16/ On Time! On Task! On a Mission!

Hope Drives Improvement /17

"Well, just do your time and get out." Special needs schools are determined by the average and median income offamilies with school-aged children, parental education, proportion of lone parent families, recent immigration, housing type and student mobility. The perception of the severity of conditions such as poverty, racism and violence in special needs schools had led many in my teachers' college graduating class to wonder whether anything would really help. Though few schools are immune to the p_roblems that affect inner-city classrooms, social and economic distress c@)llpound the difficulties. When educators address socio-economic difficulties in the community and in schools, we also face ideological issues including the false notion that students in these communities cannot attain the same academic and social goals as more economically privileged children. I have always believed in the importance of our educational system having the ability to educate those who attend special needs schools. If education is truly going to be a means of social mobility and a liberating experience then schools need to provide students with the opportunity to achieve those ends. Many of our students will not move out oftheir community; we will be providing the same opportunities to their children. In a special needs school equal funding may not be adequate funding, because these schools may require an initial extra investment just to be elevated to an acceptable baseline for academic achievement. I knew I was going to make a difference the day I walked into the school of my first teaching assignment. The principal did not make many promises but she did offer to provide unconditional support. I found that was all I needed. I researched the school and the principal, as that was one of the messages taught to us at teachers' college. The volumes of testimonials from teachers about their principal's dynamic and motivating style, her ability to communicate and her genuine concern for the individual student and teacher made it a perfect fit. On the first day of classes students and staff were asked to congregate in the cafeteria to pick up their timetables, classroom assignment and list of students. Every teacher had a sign with her or his name on it and students had to check the lists and then move to where their teacher was. I sat patiently not really knowing how the students would react to me. After all I was a first year teacher and had heard horror stories about how new teachers were treated. In a few short moments a group of five Black boys approached me and one of them asked: "Are you Mr. Spence?" The others looked on with anticipation waiting for my response. "Yes," I replied. "I am Mr. Sp .... " Before I could even finish the sentence they were gone. They came back two minutes later and this time there were almost ten of them gazing at me. ''Are you sure you're Mr. Spence?"

"Yes," I replied. Well, what took place after that is something that I will never forget. The group of students began to celebrate. "I told you, I told you ... he is Black and he is our teacher." "Yes, yes, yes ... " they went on. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to face in the classroom. Students routinely came to school without a pen or pencil or anything on which to write. Some students had come to believe that simply attending school every day and taking up space at a desk was all they needed to do. There were students who could hardly write their names, read a simple paragraph, or answer a simple math problem. Some students cared nothing about their education. Not all students could be described as such, but there were more examples of uninterested than there were ideal students well on their way to academic success. I was basically teaching elementary school to middle school students. I, like most of my colleagues, worked my brains out to move my students up a grade level or two by the end of the year. At the time, I was angry at the system for being so dysfunctional and for failing so many of my students. I even boldly stated this to our superintendent who had casually asked how things were going. He did listen and was as concerned as I was about what seemed to be insoluble problems. The fact that these students were so academically behind never sat well with me or with a number of other staff members. Our response to this was to have school on Saturdays, during vacations, and at night to make up the difference-whatever it takes. I never made peace with the fact that these kids were almost out of the race of life at such an early age because they lacked education. I resented that many of our students moving on to high school the following year were not prepared. The high school teachers were going to look at the dismal level of academic achievement of their classes and blame us middle school teachers as incompetent, in exactly the same way as we often viewed the elementary teachers. I also discovered that middle school students who cannot read or write almost always decide that the time and energy it would take to learn is not worth the effort. I found that if a student cannot read, it is nearly impossible to teach her or him how to write. I was young and idealistic, had neither family nor serious commitments of my own and would have been willing to do anything to get my students caught up to grade level. Fortunately, I have had great principals that have allowed me to dream a little and to hold onto some of those ideals. Now there were the naysayers who questioned, "If they can't get the material in five days what makes you think they will get it in six?" Some teachers continued to make reference to the background of the students and viewed them through the deficit model-they are coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, single parent families and therefore have deficits. Some of these teachers had come to regard the situation as normal. They had