The New Placement

So today I traveled up to a far northeastern side of the Bronx. There, I was greeted by a enthusiastic vice principal who didn't bother to ask me who I was though he proceeded to go on and on about the success of his school. At least he was friendly.

I was paired up with a guy named Mr. Lynch (love it), and he's so chill, maybe too chill I'm not sure yet. The first period I watched some 12th graders doing their independent work, sitting silently. Next, a group of crazy energetic 9th graders march in, shoutin' nigger this nigger that. Now that's what I'm talking about! We each took a small group and did some guided instruction. This Lynch character is one of those people who actually believes the students will get better at the test if they just keep doing it over and over again. Come on here. When a student has 3 right out of 50 you know the problem is much larger than a little test prep. I bet they just filled in random bubbles, handed it in two hours early and bailed. You can see the lack of effort. Now how am I supposed to teach a two year course in 3 weeks!!! I can feel my young idealism setting in as I get all super ambitious in my instructional strategies to combat this practically impossible situation. How can I condense this material so they can at least make an educated guess? That is the goal. This teacher does not care about creating lesson plans, he's happy with them sitting at their desks quietly copying words out of the test booklet for the next six weeks. Well, at least he was friendly.

I just want to say that I had a decent handle on all their little shenanigans. There is a huge maturity difference between the 9th and the 12th graders. These 9th graders like to throw things, run around the room, ask inappropriate questions. This I like, no really I do. Now I am receiving the proper training. If I maintain my composure like I have been with these crazy summer school thugs, I'll be ready to go come September.