Tuesday, June 14, 2016

I Work at a Low-Performing School. I Am Not a Low-Performing Teacher.

I work at an impoverished school.
I love my job, and my students.
My test scores come back.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
One of my students is living in a motel.
They need extra food.
Six people living in one motel room.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
One of my students is a newcomer.
They just arrived from El Salvador.
I greet them every morning with a hug.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
One of my students stayed up late, real late.
Mom and dad were fighting again.
The police came and took dad away.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
My students love being at school.
One student tells me they want to live with me.
When winter break arrives, some are saddened.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
One of my students is little, but can't be little.
She helps takes care of the baby in the house.
She wakes up in the night to feed the baby.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
 
I work at an impoverished school.
I love my job, and my students.
My test scores come back.
I am an ineffective teacher.
 
It is a new year and I move to teach at a new school.
The parents donate everything on my wish list, and more.
The students spent their summer at camps and museums.
Can I hide that I am an ineffective teacher?
 
I work at an affluent school.
I love my job, and my students.
My test scores come back.
I am an effective teacher.

Wait, I am the same teacher.

A new teacher takes my place at my old school.
The "effective" teachers don't want to work there.
The students wonder why their beloved teachers are gone.
She is a first year teacher.

She works at an impoverished school.
She loves her job, and her students.
Her test scores come back.
She is an ineffective teacher.