Week one is in the books, and there are already some bumps in the road. I am teaching the ninth grade with C, one of my two fabulous department heads. We really had our stuff together: we got together for a day during the summer to plan and lay out the course for the first semester, made the course documents to start the year, and got on the same page about lab safety and course expectations. We really were off to a great start. I even ordered the course textbooks and workbooks, thinking we were going to have our normal freshman class: 75.
On the Friday before school started, we found out that we would have the largest freshman class in the history of the school, to exceed 90.
Ninety freshmen. Four sections. That comes out to 22 to 23 students per section.
I know I should not be complaining, as there are teachers in our country that are dealing with sections of classes with upwards of 30 students. But, at what point do you start sacrificing effective teaching and learning for individual students in exchange for what works well enough for the group, knowing that you've only got 'x' minutes in a day? This becomes a harder question in an Essential School, which demands each teacher take on a student load of NO GREATER THAN 80 students. Essential Schools live and breathe on the idea that what truly makes a difference in moving student achievement is knowing them well. How can you know a hundred kids well, let alone more?
The key to this has been working with another teacher again. C and I have around 13 years of experience between us, and we have been spot on about planning and sticking to routines and setting reasonable objectives. Working with another teacher lightens the load and keeps you accountable to the work. This week, I've been less stressed and more organized. My plans feel more solid because another mind has been present to hash them out. We split the load of maintaining our homework site and we write our assessments and rubrics together. We even (for the moment) have a planning period together. It's fantastic.
I often wonder what the impact would be if teachers worked in pairs like this, splitting their main course when the course falls squarely within the core curriculum, and when the enrollment simply becomes unsustainable should it be handled by one person. Teaching is often an insular, lonely profession, and I have been hiding in my own little cave for two years at my school. Sharing that cave with another teacher sheds light on the way I've been teaching and working for most of my career: like a hermit scared to let others in for fear of what they might see. Now, C watches my first period class and I watch her second. There aren't any secrets anymore. It's so good, because our mistakes must be addressed by us both, and our moments of brilliance (come on, you teachers, we all have them!) can be truly shared.
This has kept me sane in the wake of overcrowded classes (our school's classrooms were designed to seat no more than 12, and mine, no more than 18) and the overbearing pressure to do well from NCLB (we are only four years away from 2014). I also feel like my teaching is just, well, better. I think we all do better when someone else, who's got just as much experience and just as much knowledge (or more, in some cases) is there, watching you and depending on you, for better or worse.
Maybe this is why no one stands watch alone.
