Thankful November: teaching at Options

Today I'm thankful for my job.  This is my seventh year teaching English to at-risk high school students at Options Charter School.  It's definitely really challenging, but also really rewarding.  I have had students I've been working with get arrested or drop out of high school, but I've also had students I've worked with graduate and go on to great things!  

A few of my favorite teaching moments from my time teaching at Options:

• Two years ago, I had a student speak at graduation and tell me I was the reason he graduated.  That made my entire year!!!
• Last year, I had a student who I had been working with since his freshmen year graduate even though all of his friends dropped out along the way.  He's leaving next week to go through basic training for the army.  
• Yesterday, I had a student tell another student that I'm like her second mom.

Not only do I have amazing stories because of the relationships I'm able to develop with students, I am also challenged every single day to teach these students as well as I can.  I've been pushed way out of my comfort zone by dealing with some of these students who are into things I had never even imagined when I was in high school, including drugs, alcohol, abuse of all kinds, probation, and arrests.  I've been challenged by taking charge of the yearbook and the student government.  I've had my patience, my classroom management skills, and my teaching skills challenged time and time again.  I am a much better teacher because of Options.

It's definitely difficult to face these challenges every day and try to remember that it is all worth it (because some days it definitely doesn't feel like it!), but I can't imagine working anywhere else.  I know that teaching at a traditional high school would be easier, but I would miss the relationships that I've formed with the students and staff.  I would miss the ability to be in complete control over my curriculum.  (I get to choose the books I teach, which is a huge blessing because I get to introduce my students to books I love.  A few of my favorites that I've taught in the past or am planning on teaching later this year are: The Catcher in the Rye, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Monster, Split, The Book Thief, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Kite Runner, Rooftops of Tehran, Brave New World, and Slaughterhouse Five.)  I have to say that I'm so, so thankful for my job.

In case you were wondering...

I survived the first day of school with students.

Image from here

Teacher discounts

As I think about going back to school I'm loving that several stores are starting to offer (or maybe they already did and they're just advertising) a teacher discount.  We're talking some of my favorite stores.

                                                    Michael's offers 15% off to teachers.

Image from here

                        Jo-Ann's offers 15% off to teachers with a few bonus days of 20% off.

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These discounts are perfect since I'm in charge of the art club at school.  The only thing I keep thinking?  Come on Hobby Lobby!!!

Other stores that offer teacher discounts include New York and Company, Office Max, and Office Depot.

I was mentioned on the 2,000 hours blog!

Have you read the 2,000 hours blog yet?  It's a blog that's written by Charles Ripley who is a high school English teacher who just finished his 5th year of teaching and is concerned about the number of teachers that get burned out in 5 years or less.  He describes his blog by writing, "2,000 Hours is a blog with a single purpose. I'm going to record every hour of work I do as a teacher for the next year. I hope to change misconceptions about teachers in America by doing so."  It's a fabulous blog that you should definitely check out, especially if you have concerns about the number of hours teachers work.


I was mentioned on his blog because I wrote a comment telling him how much I liked The Hunger Games series and asking for suggestions of dystopian literature.  You can read his post here.  I like the concept of his blog because I know that I spend a lot more time working than I'm paid for.  I've started documenting my hours at the beginning of this summer.  So far I'm up to 25 hours and 25 minutes.

On taking time

I follow the blog Tranquility du Jour, which has a monthly book club.  The book they're reading during July is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  It's a book that has been on my to read list for a long time, especially since I teach a creative writing class at least once a year and the book's subtitle is Some Instructions on Writing and Life.

In the post where she announced that Bird by Bird is the book for July, Tranquility du Jour linked to an article that Anne Lamott wrote about finding time to do whatever it is that you're passionate about.  I really enjoyed it and thought that I'd share the link with you too.  Here it is!

Book review: Day After Night

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I just finished reading the book Day After Night by Anita Diamante.  I loved The Red Tent and have been waiting for her to write something else that I enjoyed as much as I did that.  I had seen Day After Night at the library a few times, but had been reluctant to read it because it's set during World War 2.  And while I find that time period extremely interesting, I teach an entire class about it the Holocaust so I sometimes get tired of reading about it.

I was completely surprised by this book because it introduced me to a part of history that I had never even thought about: What happened to the Holocaust survivors after they were liberated from the concentration camps?  The book is told from the point of view of four different women - Leonie, Tedi, Shayndel, and Zorah - who meet at an internment camp in Palestine that is run by British soldiers.  During each section that a girl narrates, you find out a little more about where she was during the Holocaust and how she ended up in Atlit, which adds to the characters as you read so you end up caring about each of them as individuals, not simply as examples of Holocaust survivors.

At times, I found it hard to follow all of the plot lines because the narration switches from one girl to the next and because there are several concepts that I didn't completely understand until I looked them up on my own, such as why the British were keeping these people in an internment camp instead of allowing them into Palestine.  After doing a little research, I found out the British limited the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine by keeping them in camps like Atlit.

At Atlit camp, the men were sent to one side, women to the other.  They were sprayed with DDT, then told to undress and enter the showers.  In 1939-1948, tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants were interned here, men and women separated by barbed wire.  Some interns stayed as long as 23 months.

The fact that I found it hard to follow all of the plot lines when I was reading and the somewhat graphic descriptions of some sexual acts means that I won't be able to teach this book.  (I'm always looking for new books to introduce to my students, especially ones that discuss the Holocaust since so many of them have read The Diary of Anne Frank and Night.)  But I did enjoy this book.  The characters were extremely realistic, the plot was interesting, and it made me think about something that I hadn't thought about before.  I will definitely be rereading this book to see what else I get out of it now that I better understand the historical period it takes place in.

Kurt Vonnegut or Why I Now Like Some Science Fiction

I love Kurt Vonnegut.  I haven't always.  I read Cat's Cradle in high school and totally didn't get it.  I thought it was the weirdest book ever and that it didn't have a point, though why I felt like books had to have a point is another thing entirely.  When I started teaching, I knew that I wanted to teach some science fiction, specifically the stories of Ray Bradbury, but knew that I'd need a book to center the class around.  Enter Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

I first heard of Slaughterhouse Five from this conversation in the movie Footloose.

Mr. Gurntz:    "He was trying to teach that book."

Mrs. Allyson: "Slaughterhouse Five, isn't that an awful name?"

Ren:                "Yeah it's a classic...Slaughterhouse Five, it's a classic."

Mr. Guntz:      "Tom Sawyer is a classic!  Do you read much?"

Mrs. Allyson:  "Maybe in another town it's a classic."

Ren:                "In any town."

Image from http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/about/

I decided that it was time to read it and see if I could use it for my class.  I read it, and while I found it almost as weird as I had found Cat's Cradle, I liked it!  I couldn't wait to teach it to my students, one in particular who I thought would really like it.  I've been teaching Kurt Vonnegut for several years now and was completely surprised when I had a student this year who had not only read everything that Vonnegut had ever written; he had also read everything that Vonnegut had read under the pseudonym Kilgore Trout, who is one of his one of his characters.

Another reason I like Vonnegut is that he's from Indianapolis!  He said in a 1986 speech, "All my jokes are Indianapolis.  All my attitudes are Indianapolis.  My adenoids are Indianapolis.  If I ever severed myself from Indianapolis, I would be out of business.  What people like about me is Indianapolis."  The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library recently opened in downtown Indianapolis.  There are all kinds of things on display there, including his typewriter and many of his drawings.  I'm hoping that Andrew and I will be able to go see it soon!