A Tangent on Inclusion

Inclusion is the term we use in education to imply that every student regardless of IQ, physical disability or learning disability should spend as much time as possible (80% or more of their day) in regular education classes.

In theory the idea comes from a good place. By including all children in regular education you allow for socialization with their peers and the opportunity to work "on grade level" in the pursuit of future academic endeavors. I had opinions about it prior to entering the teaching profession but my brief experience in New Orleans has turned my opinions into more informed ones.

While its heart is in the right place, the idea of inclusion hurts students ability to be successful. inclusion tells us that every student should be moving toward the same educational goal - which these days is college. The challenge is that college is not the best end result for many students - special education or not. A student reading on the 3rd grade level is not benefited by sitting through day after day of biology class, in which he can not read the notes on the board and can not complete the independent work because he does not understand what is being taught. More often then not this student excels in other areas where reading does not inhibit them - working on mechanical things, math, or sometimes just an incredible work ethic that will enable them to experience success in their lives.

Rather then trying to fit every child into the same mold, it is time to remove the idea of inclusion and instead focus on the specific needs and talents of our children through trade schools, extensive pullouts to help students overcome deficits and career counseling and training to ensure that once out of high school there is a career path they can follow.

Everyday I am amazed by my 10th grader who can not write a sentence but can re-program my computer while I eat lunch. By my 10th grader who does not understand passages written for a 3rd grader but whose passion and sense of community makes him a better person then I will ever be. By my 9th grader who can not stay awake in science class because he doesn't understand the basic principles but who has the biggest heart and just wants someone to believe that he can be something more then everyone has always assumed he will be.

I teach for these students. To help them reach there goals - even though they are contradictory to the goals of the school and the system in which I teach. It's time we taught the whole student and inclusion does not allow us to do that.

Plans and time

The school year is more then half way past. I try to relish in the small moments of success my boys experience. Like being awarded "most improved student" for bringing grades up from F's to B's & C's and listening to one of my students talk about his dream of becoming a fireman and his excitement over having his drivers license. I try to focus away from the negative. The boys I can't reach no matter what I do. The ones who can not articulate what they plan to do after high school because they never thought about it.

My time in New Orleans has been so extreme. Torn between a job that is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, and new friendships and relationships that bring such joy and excitement about the future. This job will eat your insides if you let it. It is so easy to be consumed with what you can NOT do that you can easily forget what you are doing. Just by showing up. Everyday. Because they notice when you don't.

Time creeps along...and I am caught trying to make sure that making plans for the future does not happen at the cost of the present. That excitement for what is to come does not mean I miss moments to enjoy now. That the chance for failure does not become more likely then the chance for success. I find peace in quiet moments, like watching the Saints school the Cardinals in a playoff game, learning new definitions to words (like down here "excuse" means "get out of my way" not "pardon me") learning to cook Cajun style and making plans for what is next. If you've read up to this point you know I love big reveals...

Until next time, may you all be Gucci.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Just got back from a northeast tour that reminded me sometimes you have to leave home to be reminded of where it is. Great time spent in Maine with the family, in Boston with friends and in Pennsylvania meeting a whole new group of family and friends.

Last year New Orleans was just an idea, a figment of a plan and now as we are about to ring in 2010 I am going to do so in this adopted city. Where people have been drinking since last night and at midnight tonight the city will gather around a giant gumbo pot and watch it drop. Yeah you read right. Here we don't watch a ball drop. We watch a gumbo pot drop. Oh Yes.

Last year I spent New Years watching MTV's countdown alone in my apartment in Beacon Hill. Playing Wordmole on my Blackberry and trying to answer the always challenging question - how did this become my life? I find myself faced with the same question this year. Except instead of asking it because everything is in pieces at my feet I pose it out of a place of simple awe and gratitude. I feel so lucky for this year, for all the good and the bad because they led me here. To a new town, a new profession, a new group of wonderful friends who compliment, not replace my old friends and my boy. Who saw me when I couldn't even see myself and who loved me in spite of myself.

I don't make resolutions and I got out of the prediction game along time ago. So right now I am just going to be thankful. For my life, my health, my family, my friends new and old, my cats, my job, for all the opportunities that lay ahead and for Huey.

Happy New Year!

It's the Holidays...

Why do people put Christmas lights on Palm Trees? I feel like I am living in a Jimmy Buffet song.

A big upside to living in the south though...nobody is politically correct enough to say "Happy Holidays" so everyone just walks around saying Merry Christmas. There is something liberating about that kind of stubbornness. While the rest of the world worries that the holiday cards they buy might somehow offend someone, people in NOLA seem perfectly content to assume everyone celebrates Christmas.

It has finally gotten cold here. Some mornings it has even been in the low 40s. I know I know. Not really cold. But because of the humidity, the cold here permeates your bones. Its as if once you get cold you can not seem to warm up. The kids try to sneak sweatshirts and mittens on under their uniforms, the teachers don't take their coats off. The mobile classrooms have holes in floors that keep a constant flow of cold air that fights the already struggling heating system for control.

4 school days left till winter break. 4 school days and one day of professional development until winter break. Even though there is SO much to do before I come home, it feels good to be almost there. So Happy Holidays all! From my Palm Tree to yours..."may your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmas' be white...."

Thanksgiving 2009 As Told Per Status Updates

Thanksgiving has once again come and gone. This year I used the break to clean up the mess I left behind in Boston. Rather then relive it and type it here, I have included my status updates to document the holiday. Thanks to mom and Rob for a great Thanksgiving and the storage space in their basement. To Dierdre for helping me move out (again). To Cami, Paul and everyone at EMI who made it feel like coming home instead of coming for a visit. And to my brother. Who sat with me at the court house, went with me to rent the truck, did more then his share of moving my stuff and kept me laughing.

11/24 (2:15pm) - Getting ready to go back north...and wishing she could just sit on her ass down here instead...

11/24 (6:06pm) - Traffic. long term parking. no first class on the first leg. but thanks to Jen for keeping me company remotely! Charlotte NC here I come.

11/24 (8:41pm) - In Charlotte. Amazing how I get angrier as I get closer to Boston.

11/24 (11:23pm) - In Boston. Cab driver didn't try to rip me off. Still want to throw up. Maybe morning will be better.

11/25 (5:25am) - Nope.

11/25 (6:15am) - Outside 63 Mt Vernon. that is all.

11/25 (7:21am) - Feels like someone coming home from war to find the Yankees raided her house. or I've been watching too much Gone with the Wind.

11/25 (10:42am) - Thank you EMI! and thank you Edward. the best brother ever.

11/25 (12:11pm) - Meleena is filing for divorce.

11/25 (2:59pm) - Packing the Penske. Again. Thank you Edward and Deirdre. Again.

11/25 (7:54pm) - Parent's house. steak. fire. wine. good end to a long day.

11/27 (11:44am) - Headed home. good turkey. great people. thanks to all who made a hard trip fun and enjoyable!

11/27 (4:35pm) - Last leg of the trip. wish you were going to be there when I got home.

You Can't Go Home Again

Well maybe you can...but it's never the same. As the countdown clock ticks down to my first trip North since leaving last May, I feel as though I am going to a foreign place, instead of to a place I lived for 13 years.

New Orleans has so quickly become home. The city, the language (yes it is different here), the job, the weather, the people.

I am much delayed in posting photos and of talking about my job. It sometimes feels like there is so much to say that it is silly to post it all and so little to say since what seems so "new" to me is just life for the people that are from here.

I will try to use the upcoming (brief) break - ok the plane rides (all four of them in 3 days) to write up some of the more interesting anecdotes...but will start with this one as a set-up. The kids here (teenagers really) have a very unique set of slang and jargon that they use all the time. It is often hard to tell if they are mocking you, insulting you or just talking to you...for example, if you ask someone how they are they are likely to respond "I'm Gucci".

So after getting to know some of my new 10th grade students I asked one of them what some of the words meant. In addition to being entertained at the idea of getting to explain all of his slang to his teacher he also said the following comment:
"Alright Ms. Eaton, I'll make you a deal. You teach me how to read and I'll be your Hood Dictionary."

My very own Hood Dictionary...I am a lucky girl...

Round the Rampant Rugged Rocks...

Fall break is upon us. Unit 1 is in the books and Unit 2 is underway. Time is picking up speed. Lesson plans, IEPs, parent conferences, training, students, oil changes, grocery shopping. I am grateful I am a multitasker. Grateful to be surrounded by people who understand what I am dealing with everyday.

We launched a new reading program at school this week. So far it is off to a great start. we have already helped two kids raise their reading level by one full grade level. If we keep up this pace we will have everyone close to grade level by the end of the year.

Had a great time with my friend Deirdre a few weeks ago when she came down to the Big Easy. We balanced some touristy things with just hanging out and it was so good to have a piece of home down here.

The city continues to amaze me. The streets, the people, the food. So much still to be explored. To be learned.

I have 4 days off this weekend. I am not sure what I am going to do with myself. Except I know I am going to get a cat. So many animals here have been and continue to be abandoned. It is the least I can do on that front.

My best wishes to everyone...I miss you all...