Monday, January 19, 2015

Spring Semester?

I've always had a hard time calling this time of year the start of the "Spring Semester." Most days are gray and freezing, and spring feels a long way off. I've been back in school for two weeks, and I guess I'm just still adjusting to my new routine.

On January 5th I started student teaching at a new school with a different age group. This semester I'm in an independent school with 2nd graders. My Classroom Mentor (the teacher who is supervising me) is an alum of the Teacher Ed program, and she is wonderful. I've had two great Classroom Mentors thus far. Same goes for my Penn Mentors. Last semester my Penn Mentor was a retired teacher with many years of experience teaching in the School District of Philadelphia. This semester, my Penn Mentor is also an alum on the TEP, though younger, still working, and with more experience in independent schools. She actually taught for some years at the school I am currently student teaching in. Overall, I feel surrounded by experts and highly supported, just like last semester.

So, let's talk about what's changed.

I am a product of an independent school. I went to a K-12 Catholic school in Central PA. It wasn't exactly prestigious, but I think I got a phenomenal education, mostly because of the committed teachers I was fortunate to have - one of whom was my Dad! There are many independent schools in the Philadelphia area, some of which are very prestigious and very expensive. They range from charter schools to Quaker schools to Catholic schools to preparatory schools. Some have their noses higher in the air than others if you know what I mean. I don't want to give too much away about the school I am at now. All I will say is that I definitely have some students who are coming from extremely privileged backgrounds and that is a completely new ball game for me. How do you react when a 2nd grader tells you that he got an iPhone 6 for Christmas? Or how about when one tells you that they found it rather boring to swim with dolphins in Cancun last year but that this year it was much more fun?

Yeah.

I will be the first to admit that I myself am a privileged individual. I'm a white woman with a variety of educational experiences and opportunities both behind me and ahead of me. My parents' careers are not high-paying, but I have wanted for nothing my whole life and I continue to be financially stable even while being in graduate school. But I have never encountered this much wealth. It's overwhelming to me, and when I stop to think about it, it makes me a little queasy.

Two years ago I was working at a public school in East Germantown. If you drove west on Germantown Avenue, you would be in a completely different part of the world from where my students lived and went to school. The school I was at was tiny and definitely neglected by the District. There were some days when my students would need to take tissues to the bathroom because there was no toilet paper. Lunches were the opposite of nutritious. The recess yard featured broken glass, litter, and emptied dime bags. These are the sensory memories I'm left with from that school. I loved the students and teachers I worked with, but the setting was deplorable. It has now been turned into a charter school and as far as I know, it is a completely new environment.

Again, I don't want to describe my current student teaching placement in much detail, but imagine a beautiful building with many educational resources, functioning facilities, nutritious meals, etc, etc.

How can two extremes exist within the same city? One publicly funded institution that was a "failing" school, and one independent institution that is sending 100% of its students to college each year.

I'm not really interested in teaching in independent schools. I've always been committed to high-need urban schools, but I'm gaining new insight in my current placement, and for that I am grateful. I'm being challenged in new ways, and the more I am challenged, the more I grow. Just in time for spring!

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About Me

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Hello! I am a current student in Penn GSE's Teacher Education Program (Elementary Strand). I'm writing this blog as part of a Graduate Assistantship with Penn GSE's Financial Aid and Admissions Office.